SC to eci: consider Kerala, u.p. plea on SIR deadline extension Supreme Court on Thursday asked Election Commission to consider representations seeking extension of time for SIR in Uttar Pradesh, Kerala A bench comprising CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was told by senior lawyer Kapil Sibal that 25 lakh names were deleted in electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh alone. SIR deadline in UP was December 3 and in Kerala was December 18. A lawyer questioned the hurry and said KOCHI l friday l december 19, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l LATE city EDITION Torn papers fly as G-Ram-G bill replacing Mahatma approved Preetha Nair and Pa r v e z S u lta n @ New Delhi E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @Kochi Dealing a heavy blow to the Kerala government’s ambitious plans to fast-track infrastructure and development projects ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, the Centre has sharply reduced the state’s borrowing limit. The Union finance ministry has informed the state that its borrowing limit for January– March period has been reduced by `5,944 crore from the initially approved `12,515 crore, Finance Minister K N Balagopal said on Thursday . The state is now left with a mere `5,672 crore to sustain its operations for the next three months. Effectively, the state’s monthly borrowing capacity has been throttled to approximately `2,200 crore—a figure f ar below its actual requirements, he said. “We have managed to tide over the crisis in the last fourand-half years despite the financial burdens imposed on us by the Centre. The latest development comes even as the state’s annual average financial expenditure is nearing `2 lakh crore in the current fiscal... However, there is an overall reduction of `1,25,000 crore in borrowing in the last five years due to the Centre’s restrictions. The Centre is squeezing the state’s financial resources which is hitting the state’s overall development majorly,” ● More on P4 Balagopal said. 20 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express + 4-PAGE PULLOUT ter a nearly eight-hour-long debate, Union Minister for Rural Development Shivraj Singh Chouhan mounted a strong defence of the government’s move, insisting that the legislation did not dilute Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals but, instead, sought to strengthen them. As Opposition MPs trooped to the well of the House, raising slogans against the government for dropping Gandhi ji’s name from the rural jobs initiative and tearing copies of the bill and flinging it towards the chair, Chouhan hit out at the Congress for “insulting” the Mahatma and “killing” his ideals time and again. Congress members Shafi Parambil, Dean Kuriakose and Hibi Eden stood on the table and others resorted to sloganeering in the well of the House. Rejecting the charge that the Centre was deliberately removing Gandhi’s name from the law, the minister alleged that the Congress had attached his name to the scheme for political reasons. In the Rajya Sabha, Digvijaya Singh (Cong) raised a point of order saying the bill was made available on the members’ portal late in the evening and sufficient time was not given to submit amendments. Shivraj Singh Chouhan Voice vote Several amendments moved by Oppn members were not taken up for voting as they were absent. Amid uproar, LS passed the bill by voice vote Another FTA in bag: Duty-free Oman access to 99% exports P u s h p i ta D e y @ New Delhi AT a time when the country is diversifying its export market amid steep, unilateral trade tariffs levied by the US, India and Oman on Thursday signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) under which 99% of Indian exports, by value, will have duty-free access to the Omani market. In return, India will offer duty-free access to 78% of goods imported from Oman. In value terms, 95% of Oman’s exports will have free access to the Indian market. However, India ensured that sensitive sectors such as agriculture and dairy products are outside the trade deal’s ambit. The commerce ministry clarified that all major labour-intensive sectors — including gems and jewellery, textiles, leather, footwear, sports goods, plastics, furniture, agricultural products, engineering goods, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and automobiles PM Narendra Modi being conferred the Order of Oman by Sultan Haitham bin Tarik | PTI — will receive full tariff elimination. For products of export interest to Oman that are sensitive for India, the concessions are largely in the form of t a r i f f - r a t e q u o t a ( TRQ ) - b a s e d liberalisation. The trade agreement is expected to provide respite to labour-intensive sectors affected by US tariffs. Joblessness up in rural Kerala, urban areas see dip M S V i d ya n a n d a n @ T’Puram Rural unemployment in Kerala appears to have resumed its northward journey after bucking the trend briefly in 2022-23. The number of jobless youths in rural Kerala increased to 76 per thousand in 2023-24, from 65 in the previous year. The national average in these years was 25 and 24, respectively . Also, Kerala had the fourth-highest rural unemployment rate in both years, according to the ‘Handbook of Statistics on Indian States’ released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently . However, signalling a positive trend in the urban labour market, the unemployment rate in the state’s urban unemployed (Figures per thousand) Category 2022-23 2023-24 Nat’l avg 2023-24 Rural Centre again slashes state’s borrowing limit NAREGA Act mandates spending of 60% funds on labour and 40% on material. But only 26% was spent on material and funds were siphoned off Torn papers sail past minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the LS on Thursday | PTI Urban Parliament on Thursday passed the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill amid chaotic scenes in the Lok Sabha, with the Opposition raising slogans, tearing copies of the legislation, and standing on tables while holding posters of Mahatma Gandhi aloft, despite repeated appeals for order by Speaker Om Birla. The Rajya Sabha subsequently burnt the midnight oil to pass the bill after a fivehour debate. The VB G-Ram-G Bill that replaces the two-decade-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee guarantees 125 days of employment for rural households in a financial year, with the government earmarking `95,000 crore for the initiative. A major shift under the new framework is a revised fund-sharing pattern, under which states will have to bear 40% share of the scheme’s financial responsibility . Moving the bill for passage af- Male 47 46 Female 92 121 27 21 Overall 65 76 25 44 Male 48 42 Female 129 109 71 Overall 76 67 51 areas dipped to a 10-year low of 67 per thousand in 2023-24. The national average was 51. In the past 10 years, Kerala recorded its highest rural unemployment rate — 107 per thousand — in ● More on P4 2014-15.  ‘urban phobia’ Luxury litigation, says SC on plea to enhance packaged drinking water quality s u c h i t r a k a lya n m o h a n t y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Thursday declined to entertain a PIL seeking enforcement of global standards for packaged drinking water, terming it as a fit case of ‘luxury litigation’ in a country where a large populace lacks access to basic drinking water. “Where is the drinking water in this country, madam? People do not have drinking water; the quality of bottled water will come later on,” Chief Justice Surya Kant, who was sit- ting with Justice Joymalya Bagchi, said, adding that these are ‘luxury litigations’. The bench was hearing a PIL filed by Sarang Vaman Yadwadkar, who sought directives to improve and align Indian standards for packaged drinking water with global benchmarks. At the outset, the CJI questioned the very premise of the petition, observing that the court could not lose sight of broader realities faced by the country “Do you think we . can implement standards fol- lowed by the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and Australia? This is an urban-centric approach; people in rural areas drink groundwater, and nothing happens to them,” the bench said. Senior advocate Anita Shenoy, counsel for petitioner, said the issue concerned public health and consumer safety Relying on Section 18 of the . Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which mandates adherence to prescribed safety norms, the counsel said citizens were entitled to clean and safe packaged drinking water, and that statutory obligations could not be diluted. assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh are due in 2027 and yet EC was not giving time 'take decision sympathetically' The bench took note of the submissions and asked the ECI to take a decision “sympathetically” on any representations seeking an extension of time, while considering the ground realities 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 ■ ■