vijayawada l thursday l september 19, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION After pagers, now walkie-talkies explode killing 14 in lebanon Walkie-talkies exploded in Beirut and other parts of the country, killing at least 14 people in the second wave of device explosions on Wednesday solar power systems blast at homes Besides walkie-talkies, fingerprint readers and several solar power systems installed in homes across the country also exploded. A girl was injured when a solar power system exploded at a home in Beirut. In the south of the city, several blasts were heard at the funeral for three Hezbollah members and a child killed by exploding pagers the day before 450 War moving north, says Israeli minister ■ The new wave of device explosions has raised fears of an all-out war between Lebanon and Israel. Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant hinted that a greater confrontation with Hezbollah could be ahead ■ “The war’s centre of gravity is moving north. We are at the start of a new phase. It requires courage, determination...,” Gallant said | P11 Injured in the latest wave of device explosions in lebanon 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 cabinet stamp on ‘one poll’ scheme Implementation group to be formed to take it forward ‘Animal fat was used to make TTD Prasadam’ E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada M UK E SH RA N JA N @ New Delhi A day after Union home minister Amit Shah reiterated the Centre’s commitment to introducing the one nation, one poll scheme, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday accepted the recommendations of a high-level panel led by former President Ram Nath Kovind on the matter. The proposal aims to bundle elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies together, followed by urban body and panchayat polls within the subsequent 100 days. They will be discussed across India on various platforms and an implementation group will be formed to take the proposals forward. A bill on the one nation, one election scheme is likely to be introduced in the upcoming winter session of Parliament. Since 18 constitutional amendments have to be made to synchronise polls, the NDA will need extra support to get is passed in Parliament. At present, the NDA has 293 in the 543-member Lok Sabha, and 119 in the 245-member Rajya Sabha. A constitutional amendment can be passed only if the proposal has simple majority in the Lok Sabha as also twothirds of the members present and voting in the House. If all 543 Lok Sabha members are present on the day of voting, the bill will require the support of 362. The Opposition INDIA bloc has 234 in the Lok Sabha. In the Rajya Sabha, the NDA has 113 MPs and the assumed support of six nominated members, while the INDIA bloc has 85. If all members of the Rajya Sabha are present on the voting day two-thirds would be 164. , The process of synchronising elections would begin with the President notifying the date cm’s claim President Murmu being presented a report on simultaneous elections by her predecessor Ram Nath Kovind | PTI 18 constitutional amendments To hold simultaneous elections, as many as 18 amendments to the Constitution and other statutes would be required. They include amending provisions on the preparation of the electoral roll (Article 325) of the first sitting of the Lok Sabha after a general election as the “appointed date”, the panel suggested. The tenure of all state assemblies formed via polls after the “appointed date” and before the expiry of the full term of the Lok Sabha, will be only for the period ending up to the subsequent parliamentary polls. After this one-time transitory measure, all Lok Sabha and assembly polls will be held simultaneously . If fresh polls are necessitated to constitute a new Lok Sabha in the event of a hung House or a no-confidence motion, or any such event, its will be only for the unexpired (remaining) term of the immediately preceding full term of the House. If elections are held for state assemblies, then such new assemblies — unless sooner dissolved — shall continue only up to the end of the full term of Lok Sabha, the Kovind panel recommended. I compliment our former President, Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji for spearheading this effort and consulting a wide range of stakeholders Narendra Modi It will not work. When polls come, and they do not have issues to raise, then they divert attention from real issues Mallikarjun Kharge In sensational remarks that could have far-reaching implications, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu alleged that animal fat was used instead of pure ghee for preparing Prasadam offered at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in Tirumala during the previous YSRC regime. He was speaking at the NDA meeting held at Mangalagiri on Wednesday in the presence of Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan and BJP State president and MP Daggubati Purandeswari. Naidu claimed that the quality of Tirumala Laddu had become substandard during the previous dispensation, and termed it a sacrilege. “They (YSRC government) not only provided substandard food to the devotees as Anna Prasadam in Tirumala, but also used inferior quality ingredients for making Prasadam that is offered to Lord Venkateswara. Instead of using pure ghee, they used animal fat,” the Chief Minister P6 alleged. express read India goes past China in the MSCI Index New Delhi: On the back of a growing economy and improving corporate earnings, India for the first time overtook China in the MSCI equities index. India’s weight in the MSCI investible large, mid and small cap index rose to 2.35%, higher than China’s weight of 2.24%, said global financial firm Morgan Stanley. The MSCI Index serves as a benchmark for international investors Record 59% turnout in first phase of J&K polls F aya z w a n i @ Srinagar A man shows his inked finger after voting in the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections in Bijbehara in Anantnag district on Wednesday | Zahoor Punjabi Voters made a beeline outside polling stations in seven districts of Jammu and Kashmir that voted in the first phase of Assembly elections, the first in 10 years, on Wednesday. Close to 59% of the electorate cast its vote by evening, decidedly the highest among the past seven elections. “I stood in a long queue and voted patiently to cast my vote. It was my first vote since the 1987 polls,” said 72-year-old Ghulam Nabi Mir at a polling station in Tral in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district. There were long queues at all polling stations in the Tral Payeen area, a remarkable development given that Tral was known as “Kashmir’s Kandhar” during the era of militancy as it was a known stronghold of militants and separatists. “People have realised the importance of electoral politics. After the abrogation of Article 370, which disempowered us, we want to safeguard whatever is left there through our vote,” Mir said. Zubair Ahmed, a first-time voter, hoped the new government will create jobs and usher in an era of development in J&K. Ear to the ground Not much wriggle room on external debt Dilrukshi Handunnetti Award-winning journalist and lawyer, founder and director of the Colombo-based Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s two presidential frontrunners have pledged to renegotiate the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), increase social security and ease people’s financial burdens, but experts say major deviations may not be feasible though it is possible to chip away at the edges. The fact of the matter is, irrespective of who becomes the president on September 21, he has an insurmountable task to revamp the economy and to keep things afloat. A new government will have to ensure that we meet revenue targets already agreed to. This is not negotiable. It is fundamental to the coun- try’s survival to have a stable tax revenue flow,” said Umesh Moramudali, a lecturer in economics with the University of Colombo. Sri Lanka has performed well with revenue targets so far. There is little scope for making changes there. Irrespective of who comes to power, the IMF will have to adopt a pragmatic approach and work with the new administration. Negotiating with external creditors is a time-consuming complex process. And neither the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) nor the National Peoples’ Power (NPP) will run such a political risk at this moment, Moramudali noted. The immediate priorities of the next government, according to Imran Furkan, a geopolitical economic risk analyst, will be to reach agreements with bond holders to overcome the island’s default status, deal with corruption towards accountable gov- ernance and to create conditions to increase consumption to pre-crisis levels to stabilise the economy and increase revenue. Furkan said that either party will try to introduce economic relief (which will require legislation). “The SJB will focus on expanding social welfare while the NPP will try to offer relief while tackling corruption,” Furkan told this newspaper. He added that the NPP has already been engaging with the IMF, realising that it will become necessary to reach an understanding in case of a victory. “Tackling corruption is key if Sri Lanka is to promote foreign direct investment,” he said. There is agreement that there are lessons to be learnt from the economic mismanagement of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration which brought the country to a standstill in Continued on P9 2022. AP to adopt pvt retail system for liquor sale as new policy okayed E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The State Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday, approved the new Excise policy which will come into ef, fect in the first week of October. The Council of Ministers gave nod to the recommendations made by the Cabinet Sub-Committee on prices, retail marketing and taxation of liquor. In an attempt to increase efficiency of management, the Cabinet has decided that a private retail system for sale of liquor will be adopted. Of the total 3,736 retail outlets in the State, 10% will be allotted to toddy tappers. Special guidelines and notifications will be issued for reserved outlets and for unreserved shops, 50% license fee in the proposed slabs will be applicable. Retail liquor outlets will be allotted through a lottery system to ensure transparency The Chief Min. ister directed the Excise officials to ensure that quality liquor is available at reasonable prices. Elaborating on the decisions approved by the Cabinet, Minister for Information and Public Relations Kolusu Parthasarathy told mediapersons that the proposal to provide inside Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu chairing the Cabinet meeting at the Secretariat I Express 33% reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) in Legislative Bodies was approved and will be forwarded to the Centre for its nod. On the issue of restoring the volunteer system, he pointed out that the tenure of volunteers ended on August-2023 and that the previous YSRC government did not renew their services. After being informed by the Ministers that half of the volunteers had tendered resignations before the election, the Chief Minister sought more information on the issue. Additionally the Cabinet decided , to revoke the GO as per which `200 was given to Village/Ward volunteers and Secretariats staff, stating that it caused the State a loss of P6 `102 crore. cabinet decisions Second MSME Technology Centre-cumTesting Facility to come up at Amaravati instead of in Mega Industrial Hub at Kopparthy GO issued to pay `200 to volunteers & Secretariat Staff to be revoked Vision Document Vikasitha Andhra-2047 to be renamed as Swarnandhra@2047 & released on November 1 `100 crore preliminary corpus fund for MSMEs for FY 2024-25 Andhra Pradesh Ex-Servicemen Corporation to be set up with `10 crore corpus Bhogapuram international airport to be named after freedom fighter Alluri Sitarama Raju State govt to provide 3 free LPG cylinders to households from Diwali | P6
Express Network Private Limited publishes thirty three E-paper editions of The New Indian Express newspaper , thirty two E-paper editions of Dinamani, one E-paper edition of The Morning Standard, one E-paper edition of Malayalam Vaarika magazine and one E-paper edition of the Indulge - The Morning Standard, Kolkatta.