THRISSUR l thursday l august 22, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Long-Delayed census exercise to begin next month, says report The Centre is likely to start the long-delayed census exercise from September, Reuters reported quoting two government sources Representational Image final nod from PM’s office awaited Likely to be first digital census Once it starts, the exercise will take about 18 months to be completed and the government is planning to release the data by March 2026, the report said. The last population census was conducted in 2011. The next one was supposed to be completed in 2021 but was delayed due to Covid-19. Sources told Reuters that the final approval from the Prime Minister’s Office is awaited ■ ■ The delay in conducting the once-in-a-decade exercise has attracted criticism with economists warning that it will affect the quality of all statistical surveys, including inflation and unemployment data Technology will play a big role in the exercise with mobile apps and a census portal likely to be used for the collection and management of data Seven times census exercises have been conducted since 1951 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 State treasuries messed up KYC records, says Accountant Gen report M S V i dyanandan @T’Puram The Accountant General (A&E), Kerala has detected several lapses in the maintenance of the Know Your Customer (KYC) records in the state treasuries. Over 400 savings bank accounts in state treasuries were opened by quoting the customer’s Aadhaar number as “99999999-9999”, said ‘Report on the Annual Review of Working of Treasuries in Kerala 2023-24’, released by the A&E. Several customer IDs did not have KYC details, the report said. Many customers were allotted with more than one customer ID based on the same KYC document. Also, under each ID, customers were allowed to maintain many accounts. While verifying the KYC details in state-wide treasury data, many accounts had same KYC details i.e. Aadhaar number, PAN, DOB, etc. This happened due to erroneous entries like “99” “999” “00” “000” “0000” “NIL” “Nil” “Null” etc. against KYC details, the report said. At some treasuries, two different customers held the same Aadhaar number. Many customer IDs were shown in the system as “not confirmed” and several others were observed without any account number or details attached to it. The report recommended that “KYC details should be Major fault lines Same Aadhaar number, 99999999-9999, for over 400 SB accounts Several other accounts have same KYC details Lapses in pension payment 56 cases of non-restoration of commuted portions of pension 21 cases of excess payment of festival allowance 171 cases of excess payment of family pension 9 cases of excess payment of medical allowance made mandatory and suitable checks may be incorporated in the savings bank module to avoid duplication of KYC details.” The report pointed out several lapses in pension payment as well. They included 56 cases of non-restoration of commuted portions of pension i.e., restoration of full pension on the stipulated date. Also detected were excess payment of family pension (171 cases), excess payment of festival allowance (21 cases) and medical allowance (9 cases). The report said several treasuries failed in income tax deduction from the interest on savings bank and fixed deposits. As per the IT Act, annual interest exceeding Rs ● More on P4 5,000 is taxable. IAS spouse to succeed hubby as chief secy tional Rural Livelihoods Mission of the Ministry of Rural The state cabinet has cleared Development, India. She also the appointment of Sarada G served as joint secretary in Muraleedharan as the 49th the Ministry of Panchayati Chief Secretary of KerRaj and was responsiala. She will succeed ble for conceptualising her spouse and incumand promoting the bent Chief Secretary V Gram Panchayat DevelVenu, after his retireopment Plans. ment on August 31, During her stint as making it the first time Director General of the in the history of the National Institute of Sarada G state that a husbandFashion Technology Muraleedharan wife duo occupies the (NIFT), Sarada was intop bureaucratic post strumental in restrucin a row. turing the curriculum, A 1990 batch IAS ofand anchoring several ficer, Sarada is presentstrategic projects. She ly additional chief secalso served as director retary of the local self of the Scheduled Caste gover nment departDevelopment, Social ment. She has held key Welfare and Collegiate V Venu posts in various departEducation departments both at the Centre and ments, among other posts. the state. She headed the KudIn the past too, IAS couples umbashree Mission from 2006 V Ramachandran-Padma to 2012 and proved her admin- Ramachandran, Babu Jacobistrative acumen in the post. Lizzie Jacob have served as At the Centre, she served as chief secretaries, but not in a chief operating officer at Na- row. E x p r e ss N e ws Se r v i c e @T’Puram Hasty appointment of Ghosh as National Medical College head cancelled RG Kar’s new principal chucked out 150 CRPF personnel deployed at RG Kar was cancelled. Besides, RG Kar superintendent Bulbul MukhoA day after the Supreme Court padhyay and the head of the ordered CISF protection for the department of the hospital’s RG Kar Medical College and chest medicine department, Hospital in Kolkata where a Arunava Dutta Choudhury, trainee doctor was recently were removed. raped and murdered, the paraSenior CISF officer K Pratap military force with 150 person- Singh told reporters, “we have nel was deployed there, while come here for some assignprotests against the ment. Let us finish horrific crime continour work, then senior ued across the city on officers will brief you. Wednesday . I am doing my job.” Stung by the SC Nivedita Sarkar, a questioning the haste student of RG Kar, with which RG Kar’s said, “If we feel safe principal Sandip after the CISF taking Ghosh was appointed charge of the hospihead of another instital security we would , tution, the West Benrequest the Central gal government on government to retain I have listened to Wednesday cancelled it on the campus for a both the parents. I it to limit damage. It few months more.” will be writing to The SC on Tuesday had appointment him the chief minister in had pulled up the state principal of the Cala closed envelope. government and quescutta National MediThey told me certain things, tioned the Kolkata Pocal College and Hospiconfidential now lice’s response when a tal hours after he had put in his papers. Governor Ananda Bose rampaging mob vandalised the hospital The state governearly August 15. ment had appointed Earlier in the day junior doc, Dr Suhrita Pal as the new printors and medical students took cipal of RG Kar in place of Ghosh. But she was working out a march asking why the from the Swasthya Bhavan, the government failed to take any health department’s headquar- step against Ghosh despite seters, instead of coming to the rious allegations of corruption college. Her appointment, too, against him. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kolkata rescue ops on Reactor blast at Andhra pharma factory kills 17 U s h a Pe r i @ Visakhapatnam In a major industrial mishap, 17 workers were killed and more than 30 others injured after a major fire broke out following a reactor blast at the Escientia Advanced Sciences Pvt Ltd factory in Atchutapuram SEZ in Rambilli Mandal of Andhra Pradesh’s Anakapalle district, on Wednesday afternoon. Officials said the casualty count could go up further as rescue operations are still underway. Rescue workers including NDRF and SDRF teams are trying to remove the debris with heavy machines as the slab of the first floor of the three-storeyed building caved in with the impact of the blast. CM N Chandrababu Naidu ordered a high-level probe into the incident. Four of the deceased have been identified as Y Chinna Rao, 32, Challapalli Harika, 22, and Mohan Durga Prasad, 20, who died on the spot while another worker, Ram Reddy, 47 died while undergoing treatment. According to a government release, the fire was triggered by a reactor blast at the factory at 2.15 pm on Wednesday . Doctors raise slogans during a protest rally over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, in Kolkata on Wednesday. (Inset) CISF Inpector General Shikhar Sahai, left, at RG Kar | PTI Akhtar Ali: Had blown whistle on Ghosh Former RG Kar deputy superintendent Akhtar Ali claimed he had written to the state vigilance department two years ago flagging serious cases of corruption by then principal Sandip Ghosh. Ali said he was threatened by senior officials and pressured to withdraw his complaint Goyal lashes out at Amazon, says it’s hurting small retailers D IPA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi UNION commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday hit out at US e-commerce giant Amazon for its predatory pricing practices that hurt Indian retailers. Speaking in an event, Goyal said Amazon’s billion-dollar investment in India is no cause for celebration as the company is only making good for the losses it made by indulging in predatory pricing. “They made a billion-dollar loss in their balance sheet... They have to fill in that loss,” he said. In FY23, Amazon India’s marketplace business Amazon Seller Services reported net losses of `4,854 crore, up from `3,649 crore a year ago. Amazon has pledged $15 billion additional investment in India by 2030, taking its total investments in the country to $26 billion. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy made this announcement during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit in 2023. Unimpressed by this, Goyal said the company paid thousands of crores to professionals. “I don’t know who these professionals are. I am a chartered accountant, and I have done law; I would love to know which chartered accountants, professionals, lawyers get `1,000 crore unless you are paying all the top lawyers to block them so When Amazon invests a billion dollars, it is not for great service or investment to support the Indian economy Union minister Piyush Goyal that nobody can fight a case against you,” he said. Goyal was probably referring to claims made by the Confederation of All India Traders in 2021 that Amazon paid $1.2 billion (`8,456 crore) towards legal expenses during FY19 and FY20. However, Amazon had clarified that its total legal and professional expenses in FY20 stood at `1,967 crore. An Amazon spokesperson said the company has no comments on Goyal’s charges. According to Goyal, half of India’s market could become part of the e-commerce network by the next decade, which is a matter of concern. He said the growth of ecommerce is at the cost of local businesses and employment, particularly in pharmacies and mobile phone repair shops. EXPRESS READ Commission flagged power lobby in ’17 Mpox: Preventive measures enhanced T’Puram: Highlighting the fact that the Malayalam film industry was in the clutches of a power group, the Competition Commission of India had said in 2017 that powerful organisations controlling the industry colluded to ‘ban’ some directors & threaten actors out of working with ‘banned’ artists. P4 T’Puram: The health department has stepped up measures to tackle Mpox (previously known as Monkey Pox) following directions from the Centre. Health Minister Veena George said the state should be cautious as cases have been reported in some countries. P5 A s u r v i v o r ’ s w i sd o m My life is a bonus, cancer no obstacle, says ISRO chief Somanath ISRO chairman S Somanath inaugurates Kerala Cartoon Academy’s exhibition ‘Caritoon’ by drawing a cartoon at Durbar Hall Art Gallery in Ernakulam on Wednesday. Kerala Lalithakala Akademi chairman Murali Cheeroth and Kerala Cartoon Academy chairman Sudheernath also seen | T P Sooraj E XPR E SS N E WS S E RVIC E @Kochi “If you want to know how lucky or blessed you are, if you believe in God, you just need to visit the Regional Cancer Centre in Thiruvananthapuram. You will see several children and youngsters with cancer in the outpatient wing. I was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 60. I consider my life till now a bonus.” This was how S Somanath, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) responded on Wednesday when a student asked him how he felt when he was diagnosed with cancer (stomach cancer), and that too on the day of the launch of Aditya-L1, India’s scientific mission to study the Sun. He was taking questions from the audience after inaugurating ‘CariToon 2024’, a cartoon festival organised by the Kerala Cartoon Academy in collaboration with Kerala Lalithakala Akademi and Chavara Cultural Centre at Durbar Hall Art Gallery in Kochi. “I didn’t see it (cancer) as something bad. I took five days leave for the operation, and as you can see I’m cheerful and have a positive outlook, not disheartened,” he said. Somanath had revealed he had cancer on March 4, while talking about his operation followed by chemotherapy “It was . after the scan that I learnt of the growth in my stomach. I learnt of it as soon as the (Aditya) launch took place. It was hereditary. My family was shocked. Now, however, I perceive cancer and its treatment as a solution,” he had said. At the function, Somanath, himself a cartoonist in his student days, was honoured with Kerala Cartoon Academy’s distinguished membership. He inaugurated CariToon by drawing a cartoon. The exhibition concludes on August 25. Geetanjali Barua, principal of a college in Dhaka, tied to a tree | Special Arrangement B’desh journos hounded, Hindu teachers sacked Y e s h i Se l i @ New Delhi While the interim government in Bangladesh claims that the current situation there is close to normal, well placed sources in the country said journalists considered close to the erstwhile Sheikh Hasina regime are being viewed as criminals, are hounded out and arrested. Hindu teachers, too, are losing their jobs. Sources also said students have set up vigilante groups and are sermonising citizens on how to conduct themselves. Shakil Ahmed, former editor of a private channel, and his wife (also a journalist) Farzana Rupa, were arrested at Dhaka airport along with their daughter on Wednesday . They were trying to go to France. As for Hindu teachers, nearly 70 of them have allegedly been forced to resign, according to a source. These include Geetanjali Barua, principal of Azimpur Gover nment Girls School and College in Dhaka. Students tied her to a tree with a rope. The army had to rescue her. Similarly, Sonali Rani Das was forced to resign. She was an assistant professor of Holy Red Crescent Nursing College. “In a real sense, normalcy hasn’t returned. There is tension although people are slowly returning to their earlier routine,’’ Prof Nazmul Ahsan Kallilmullah, a political commentator, told TNIE. Student vigilante groups are are pulling up smokers and asking them to abstain, with a warning.
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