HYDERABAD  SATURDAY  DECEMBER 28, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 16  LATE CITY EDITION FORMER SUZUKI MOTOR CHAIRMAN OSAMU SUZUKI PASSES AWAY AT 94 Suzuki, who grew small-car manufacturer Suzuki Motor into an international brand with huge success in India, passed away on Wednesday Osamu Suzuki REVOLUTIONISED INDIA’S CAR MARKET He passed away on December 25 due to malignant lymphoma, according to information shared by Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corporation on Friday. Suzuki is credited for taking a big risk by partnering with the then Indian government in 1981 to form a joint venture, Maruti Udyog Ltd, when India was a closed economy. The move revolutionised India’s car market 40% PROVED SMALL CARS CAN GIVE BIG BUSINESS focused on building light-weight ‘kei’ vehicles, many of which became big hits for their fuel efficiency and easy-to-handle quality ■ Under the charismatic businessman’s four-decade leadership through 2021, Suzuki Motor’s sales grew more than 10-fold to 3 trillion yen ■ Calling himself an “old man at a small business”, Osamu Suzuki CURRENT MARKET SHARE OF MARUTI SUZUKI IN INDIA’S CAR MARKET 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 Cremation today amid party’s Rural, urban push for separate resting place consumption HOUSEHOLD SURVEY 2023-24 Funeral at 11.45 am at Delhi’s Nigambodh Ghat crematorium, says home ministry MODI AMONG FIRST TO PAY HOMAGE Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was among the first ones to pay homage to Singh and lay a wreath on Friday, said the death was a big loss and the nation lost an able statesman Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays his last respects to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, in New Delhi on Friday | PTI P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi AHEAD of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s final rites with full state honours, the Congress on Friday requested the Union government for a resting place for him along the banks of the Yamuna in Delhi, where many former PMs have their memorials. However, sources said that the Centre told the Congress brass to conduct the funeral at the Nigambodh Ghat crematorium on Saturday as scheduled while it will consider the request for a memorial later. Congress sources said they had no option other than to proceed with the plan announced by the Union home ministry . In his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kharge said: “Apropos our telephonic conversation today morning, wherein I made a request to hold Dr Singh’s last rites, which will take place tomorrow at his final resting place that would be a sacrosanct venue for a memorial of the great son of India. This is in keeping with such tradition of having memorials of statesmen and former Prime Ministers at the very place of their funerals.” However, a communication from the Ministry of Home Affairs said Singh’s last rites will be conducted at 11.45 am on Saturday at the Nigambodh Ghat crematorium with state honours. Significantly it was the UPA , government headed by Singh that decided in 2013 that there He left his imprint on our national life. The nation has lost an eminent statesman, renowned economist and a distinguished leader Union Cabinet resolution would be no separate memorials for VVIPs in Delhi and decided to have a common complex for memorials of departed national leaders like Presidents, Vice Presidents and Prime Ministers. However, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh kept up the pressure, wondering why the government could not find a location for his cremation and memorial befitting of his stature. “This is nothing but a deliberate insult to the first Sikh Prime Minister,” he alleged. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi described Manmohan Singh’s demise as a “deeply personal loss”. A condolence resolution passed by the Congress Working Committee said he was a towering figure in India’s political and economic landscape whose contributions transformed the country and earned him respect worldwide. LAST RESPECTS D R Manmohan Singh belongs to an era when politicians were respected for allowing institutions to flourish. It is not as if there were no aberrations in the past. By and large, the spirit of the Constitution was honoured by those in power. Even when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister (19992004), he respected and heard the voice of the opposition. Narasimha Rao, on one occasion, requested Vajpayee, who was the Leader of Opposition at the time, to lead a delegation to the UN. It was during those years that Manmohan Singh, from being a bureaucrat, who served the nation in several capacities, became the Prime Minister in 2004. The opening up of the Indian economy when a radical , SINGH’S FINAL PROCESSION AT 9.30 AM On Saturday, his mortal remains will be taken to AICC HQ at 8 am, where party cadre and the public can offer tributes. The final procession to the cremation ground will depart at 9.30 am US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Singh was one of the greatest champions of US-India strategic partnership who brought the two countries closer MANMOHAN SINGH BELIEVED IN GROWTH WITH EQUITY KAPIL SIBAL Terming his death a “personal loss”, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Friday said Singh was her friend, philosopher and guide. She said Singh leaves a void in the national life that can’t be filled CHAMPION OF INDO-U.S. TIES: BLINKEN Chief Minister Revanth Reddy paying tributes to former prime minister Manmohan Singh | EXPRESS Member of Rajya Sabha PERSONAL LOSS, SAYS SONIA shift was made in 1991, by Singh as Finance Minister with India’s balance of payments in deep crisis. His economic liberalisation policy paved the way for what India is today Every sector of the . economy moved away from the licence quota raj and from a 3.3% growth rate prior to 1991, we in the 1990s witnessing India’s GDP growing at 6%. Between 2004 and 2014, GDP growth averaged 7.7% with 8.1% average growth between 2004 and 2009. Those were golden years, when India’s growth story was lauded internationally and 271 million people moved above the poverty line. Economic growth during these years was tempered with equity. Singh believed that growth without equity is not , the path India should tread. His commitment to Parliament and Parliamentary institutions was unmatched. He sat through the debates, listening to the opposition and attempted, to the extent possible, to move forward with consensus. He did not have the luxury of a brute majority in the Lok Sabha and therefore, had to navigate his policies through dialogue both with his coalition partners and the opposition. The dialogues, with his coalition partners, allowed him to make some monumental decisions. The Right to Information Act, 2005, brought about enormous transparency in the process of decision making. With information available to citizens, government could be held accountable, making transparency a policy prescription. The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, allowed 25% of children belonging to the poor and marginalised communities to be admitted to private schools where their education was subsidised from Class I to Class VIII. These changes in many senses recognised that unless people at the bottom of the pyramid have opportunities, India will continue to be an iniquitous society . CONTINUED ON: P7 A STATESMAN LIKE NO OTHER: PUTIN Russian President Vladimir Putin described former prime minister Manmohan Singh as an outstanding statesman who elevated IndiaRussia ties to greater heights gap narrows D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi THE gap between urban and rural consumption narrowed as the average monthly per capita consumption expenditure grew 9% in nominal term in rural areas and 8% in urban areas in 2023-24, the latest household consumption data released by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed. The gap between urban and rural consumption declined to 70% in 2023-24 from 71% in the previous year. The household consumption survey was conducted from August 2023 to July 2024. According to the new data, monthly consumption expenditure in current prices was `4,122 in rural areas and `6,996 in urban areas in 2023-24. In the previous year, the average monthly consumption expenditure was `3,773 in rural areas and `6,549 in urban. In real terms (2011-12 price), the increase in both rural and urban consumption is only 3.5% to `2,079 and `3,632, respectively . This paper had on December 3 reported the household consumption expenditure survey report of 2023-24 would be released soon. The government was awaiting the consumption data as it has to decide the new base year for calculating economic data such as GDP and inflation. The new base year could be either 2022-23 or 2023-24. The Consumer Price Index basket would also be changed accordingly. It is likely that the weightage of food in CPI basket will be aligned based on the consumption survey report. Currently food has a weightage of 44.6% in the com, bined CPI, which tracks the retail inflation. Average MPCE for major states STATE Kerala Tamil Nadu Telangana Andhra Karnataka Odisha Uttar Pradesh Maharashtra RURAL 6,611 5,701 5,435 5,327 4,903 3,357 3,481 4,145 URBAN 7,783 8,165 8,978 7,182 8,076 5,825 5,395 7,363 ( MPCE: Monthly per-capita consumption expenditure) KTR gets protection from arrest till Dec 31 T G N A I D U @ Hyderabad THE Telangana High Court on Friday extended the interim protection from arrest granted to BRS working president K T Rama Rao (KTR) until December 31 in connection with the Formula-E race case. Justice K Lakshman adjourned further hearing on Rama Rao’s criminal petition to the same date. Rama Rao is the prime accused (Accused No.1) in the case registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), under Sections 13(1)(a) read with 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and Sections 409 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code. On December 20, the former IT minister filed a lunch motion petition, seeking directions to the ACB not to arrest him. Justice NV Shravan Kumar, who initially heard the plea, granted interim relief by directing the ACB to refrain from arresting the BRS Sircilla MLA until December 30. The court also instructed the ACB and complainant Dana Kishore, Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration and Urban Development, to file counter affidavits. In response, the ACB filed a counter affidavit asserting that the allegations and evidence presented in the complaint established a prima facie case against Rama Rao and others for misappropriation of public funds CONTINUED ON P5 and breach of public trust. Hyd 2nd most expensive residential market: Report Mumbai terror attack plotter dies in Pakistan E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad AGENCIES HYDERABAD is the second most expensive residential market in the country after Mumbai, according to Knight Frank India’s proprietary report, Affordability Index. The affordability index of the city has remained unchanged at 30 percent for three years (2022, 2023 and 2024). Knight Frank India’s Affordability Index tracks the EMI (Equated Monthly Installment) to income ratio for an average household. This implies that on an average a household in Hyderabad needs to spend 30 percent of its income on payment of EMI for housing loan. The affordability index evaluates the proportion of household income required to meet housing loan EMIs in major cities. Ahmedabad is the most affordable housing market among the top eight cities, with an affordability ratio of 20 percent, followed by Pune (23 percent), Kolkata (24 percent), Bengaluru and NCR (27 percent), Chennai (25 percent). Mumbai is the only city to exceed the affordability threshold, standing marginally higher at 50 percent, albeit affordability has improved. In Hyderabad, the affordability ratio has stayed consistent at 30 percent since 2022. Mumbai has seen its affordability ratio improve from 67 per cent in 2019 to 50 per cent in 2024, yet it remains the only city where housing costs exceed the afCONTINUED ON P5 fordability threshold. PAKISTAN-based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki, a key figure in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 174 people and injured over 300, on Friday died of a heart attack in Lahore, Pakistan. He was 70 years old and had been undergoing treatment for diabetes. He was the brother-in-law of Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed and the deputy chief of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa. According to the JuD, Makki had been ill for the past few days and was Abdul Rehman Makki undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Lahore. “Makki suffered a cardiac arrest early this morning and he breathed his last in the hospital,” news agency PTI quoted a JuD official as saying. In 2020, Makki was handed six months-imprisonment in a terror financing case by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan. Rising income drove sales Affordability plays a crucial role in sustaining homebuyer demand and driving sales, which significantly contribute to the country’s economic growth. While property prices have seen a rise, the steady increase in income levels has helped individuals maintain the financial confidence needed to invest in properties. 3 BC leaders in race for TG BJP chief post I R E D DY S R I N I VAS R E D DY @ Hyderabad BRS TEAM FOR DELHI BRS working president KT Rama Rao, accompanied by party MPs, left for Delhi on Friday to attend the last rites of Manmohan Singh | P4 THE race for the BJP state president post has picked pace with three leaders emerging as contenders. With the BJP high command expected to announce its decision by Sankranti, speculation within the saffron party ranks has peaked regarding the choice. The frontrunners include Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind, Malkajgiri MP Eatala Rajender and Adilabad MLA Payal Shankar. All three leaders enjoy support from various factions within the party and this has led to a hint of power struggle. Arvind is known as a “firebrand leader” for his combative approach. His aggressive criticism of the BJP’s rivals, the BRS and Congress, has earned him this sobriquet. His strong connections with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and connections in Delhi, particularly networking with party’s national leaders, appear to give him a head start. Rajender, the Malkajgiri MP, is relying on his political experience, his ability to strategise and his ties with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Meanwhile, Payal Shankar has plenty of support from senior leaders in the state who view him as loyal, grounded and well-conn e c t e d t o g r a s s ro o t s p a r t y workers. CONTINUED ON P5