chennai l tuesday l october 15, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l late city EDITION Trio wins economics Nobel for work on wealth inequality Economists Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson win Nobel for research into differences in prosperity between nations (From Left) Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson Research on why nations fail or succeed Highlighting role of societal institutions By examining the various political and economic systems introduced by European colonisers, the three researchers explained why some countries are rich and others poor, the Nobel committee said. Their research also helped explain why countries with poor rule of law and exploitative institutions often become trapped in a situation of “low economic growth” ■ ■ “The three economists have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for achieving prosperity,” Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, said | P14 Acemoglu and Robinson wrote the best-selling book Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty published in 2012 1968 when the swedish central bank established nobel economics prize 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 India expels six top Canadian diplomats, withdraws envoy Food pricey Retail inflation at nine-month high of 5.49% M o n i k a Ya d a v @ New Delhi Indian high commissioner ‘person of interest’ in Nijjar case: Canada Y e s h i S e l i @ New Delhi Canada’s Acting High Commissioner Stewart Wheeler leaves from the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi on Monday. He is among the six expelled Canadian diplomats | PTI Curious Timing of the communique “It is no coincidence that it takes place as Prime Minister Trudeau is to depose before a commission on foreign interference,” the foreign office said in its statement Kerala resolution flays Centre for not releasing aid for Wayanad E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ T’Puram THE Kerala Assembly on Monday unanimously adopted a resolution against the Centre’s unreasonable delay in extending aid to the landslide-hit Wayanad. The resolution, passed after a three-hour adjournment discussion, urged the Centre to immediately release financial assistance as demanded by the state and to write off all bank loans of the affected people. Alleging bias by the Centre, the strongly worded resolution said the landslide at Meppadi in Wayanad on July 30 falls in the ‘disaster of severe nature’ category but the Union government has not released any funds so far. It termed the Centre’s attitude disheartening, noting that other states that faced natural calamities have got financial aid even without asking for it. Congress MLA T Siddique, who represents Kalpetta in Wayanad, said people had high hopes after Modi’s visit but they are now asking if he came there just for a photo shoot. Relations between India and Canada reached a nadir on Monday as the foreign office announced the expulsion of six Canadian diplomats and the withdrawal its high commissioner and other diplomats after Ottawa claimed they were ‘persons of interest’ in the murder of Khalistani radical Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia last year. Though Nijjar, a Canadian national, was not named, the insinuation was crystal clear. The six expelled diplomats are the acting High Commissioner Stewart Ross Wheeler, Deputy High Commissioner Patrick Hebert and first secretaries Marie Catherine Joly Ian , Ross David Trites, Adam James Chuipka and Paula Orjuela. All six were given a Saturday deadline to fly out of India. The announcement came after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned Wheeler and gave him a piece of its mind. “t was underlined that in an atmosphere of ex- Hardeep Singh Nijjar and Justin Trudeau The aspersions cast on him (High Commissioner Verma) are ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt tremism and violence, the Trudeau Government’s actions endangered their safety We have . no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security,” the MEA said. The MEA’s Secretary East summoned Wheeler and said India reserves the right to take further steps in response to the Trudeau government’s support for extremism, violence and separatism against the country . He was informed that the baseless targeting of the Indian high commissioner and other First meet of Kuki, Meitei, Naga MLAs since Manipur erupted P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r & Mukesh Ranjan @ Guwahati/New Delhi Legislators from Manipur’s Meitei, Kuki and Naga communities will sit down on Tuesday in Delhi for their first joint meeting since the eruption of ethnic violence in the state last year. The meeting, organised by the Centre, will be held on Tuesday . A Meitei legislator said he welcomed the initiative and was looking forward to attending the meeting. “We were asked to sit to- Done & Dusted With Pakistan’s 54-run loss to New Zealand, India women’s 2024 T20 WC campaign came to an end in the UAE | P15 Board exam schedule out for classes 10, 11, 12 E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Coimbatore School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi released the board examination schedule for classes 10, 11 and 12 for the academic year 2024-25 in Coimbatore on Monday . Written examinations will be held from March 28 to April 15 for Class 10, March 5 to 27 for Class 11, and from March 3 to 25 for Class 12. Practical examinations will be held from February 22 to 28, February 15 to 21, and February 7 to 14, for the respective classes. The final results will be released on May 9 for Class 12, and on May 19 for classes 10 and 11, Poyyamozhi said. The school education minister told reporters that around 25 lakh students are expected to appear for the board exams and advised them to focus on studies with the help of teachers without getting too stressed. The minister said the union government has halted the first tranche of `573 crore under the Samagra Shiksha Scheme to Tamil Nadu, citing various reasons.  P9 gether as part of a peace initiative,” he told this newspaper. An MLA camping in Delhi said 18 will attend the meeting – eight Meitei MLAs and five each from Kuki and Naga communities. “I don’t know the exact agenda of the meeting as of now,” Awangbow Newmai, a Naga minister who is attending the meeting, said. L Dikho, a Naga legislator said, “I will attend it and see how best we can take up the initiative.” Union home ministry said on Monday a decision was yet to be taken on home minister Amit Shah’s participation. diplomats and officials in Canada was unacceptable. Earlier in the day, India trashed a communiqué that suggested that High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and other diplomats were ‘persons of interest’ in the matter. Ever since Trudeau first alleged an Indian role in Nijjar’s murder, his government has not shared a shred of evidence despite repeated requests, the foreign office asserted. “This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains,’’ the MEA charged. But Wheeler later claimed his country had provided ‘credible, irrefutable evidence’. “Prime Minister Trudeau’s naked interference in Indian internal politics in December 2020 showed how far he was willing to go in this regard. That his Government was dependent on a political party, whose leader openly espouses a separatist ideology vis-a-vis India, only aggravated matters,’’ the statement added. express read Samsung India workers resume stir after 3 days Chennai: Samsung workers resumed their protest after a three-day break on Monday, around 600m away from their previous protest site. Meanwhile, three ministers began another round of talks with union members at the secretariat | P2 TNSTC hires pvt buses amid union opposition Chennai: Amid strong opposition from various trade unions, the Villupuram division of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation has begun hiring private buses on a Gross Cost Contract basis to meet transportation demand during the festival season | P4 (Top) Cars parked on the Velachery bridge in Chennai in anticipation of widespread flooding from rains Bikes moving along a flooded street in Madurai | martin louis, k k sundar Red alert issued for nine districts in TN and Pondy E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai The regional meteorological centre (RMC) has issued a red alert to nine districts, including Chennai, in Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry for Wednesday While heavy to very heavy . rain is expected at a few places, extremely heavy rain is likely at one or two places over Tiruvallur, Chennai, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Cuddalore, Villupuram, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur districts, and Puducherry and Karaikal regions. On Sunday the RMC had issued an orange alert to Chen, nai and surrounding districts with the possibility of exschool holiday tremely heavy rains in isolated places on Wednesday. Holiday for schools and However, it has been changed colleges in Chennai, to red alert as extremely Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram heavy rainfall is likely in one and Chengalpattu on or two places. The extremely Tuesday heavy rainfall alert is issued when there is a possibility of IT employees have been a region receiving more than advised to work from 20.4cm of rainfall. home on October 15 & 18 An orange alert has been issued for Ranipet, TiruvanMore metro trains to namalai, Kallakurichi, Perbe operated on October a m b a l u r, A r i ya l u r a n d 15, 16 and 17 Thanjavur for heavy to very heavy rain for Wednesday . The met department has issued an orange alert with the possibility of heavy to very heavy rain at a few places and extremely heavy rain at one or two places over Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur districts and Karaikal region on Tuesday Heavy to very heavy rain is likely . at over isolated places in Ranipet, Tiruvallur, Chennai, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Kallakurichi, Ariyalur, Perambalur and Thanjavur districts and Puducherry on the same day  P9 . Chennai braces for heavy rain, CM holds meet | P4 retail inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), reached a nine-month high of 5.49% in September on account of rising food prices, data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation on Monday showed. In August, CPI inflation was 3.65%, slightly up from 3.6% in the previous month. The highest inflation rate prior to this was recorded in December 2023, at 5.69%. According to the government, high base effect and weather conditions might have led to increase in inflation in September. The Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI), which measures food inflation, was reported at 9.24% for September. The inflation rates for rural and urban areas were 9.08% and 9.56%, respectively . Meanwhile, the year-on-year housing inflation rate for September was 2.78%, up from 2.66% in August. The All India Electricity index for September was recorded at 162.5, with an inflation rate of 5.45%. Additionally significant declines in , inflation were noted for pulses and products, spices, meat and fish, as well as the sugar and confectionery subgroups during September. Manoranjan Sharma, chief economist, Infomerics Ratings, said: “The inflationary surge is attributable to the base effect, 9.24% food inflation in September up from 5.66% in August, and the spike in inflation rate for vegetables from 10.71% in July to 35.99% in August. In hindsight, it is clear RBI was right in holding the rates steady in its October 9, 2024 Policy. Constant caution, vigil, and monitoring are needed.” In addition, India’s wholesale price index-based inflation rose slightly to 1.84% in September, up from 1.31% in August, mainly due to a sharp increase in food prices. Food inflation surged to 11.53% for the month compared to just 3.11% in August, according to the commerce ministry’s data.