KOLLAM l monday l november 02, 2026 l `10.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION GST mop-up surges to L2.31l cr in October on festive demand October is the second consecutive month when monthly gross GST crossed K2 lakh crore, and 2nd only to the record K2.43 lakh cr mop-up in April Collections from DOMESTIC SALES up 16% Performance across key economic hubs GST collections jumped 23 per cent year-on-year. Gross GST collections from domestic sales rose 16 per cent to over J1.59 lakh crore, and revenues from imports climbed 42 per cent to J72,246 crore. The J2.31 lakh crore collection includes Central GST mop-up of J42,935 crore, State GST of J51,340 crore and Integrated GST of over J1.37 lakh crore, data showed ■ ■ Manoj Mishra from Grant Thornton Bharat said October collections capture the festive demand cycle, which brings higher consumer spending, retail activity and movement of goods across sectors Performance across key states, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, UP and MP points to continued strength in GST collections 6.5% YoY the increase in gst refunds, which is L27,934 crore in October 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 Artificial delays, agents drive drug budget to `900 cr Top honour Ezhuthachan Puraskaram for Methil Radhakrishnan E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e U nn i k r i s h nan S @T’Puram @T’Puram Methil Radhakrishnan has been selected for the 2026 Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, the state’s highest literary honour. The award carries a purse of `5 lakh, citation and plaque. A jury chaired by poet K G Sankara Pillai unanimously selected him for the award. Writers Kalpatta Narayanan, K Satchidanandan and Sarah Joseph were members of the jury while M P Suren, dran was the member-secretary. Chief Minister V D Satheesan will present the award to him in Kozhikode by November-end. The jury noted that Methil brought a new sensibility to M a l aya l a m l i t e r at u re through his unique aesthetic sense and sharp intellect. He creatively combined science, philosophy and psychology and emerged as a major presence in Malaya l a m writing during the post-modern period. His novels, short stories, poems and science essays are all marked by an underlying original philosophy, it said, describing him as a writer for present and future generations. Methil, who has been renewing the Malayalam language for decades, fully deserves an award named after Ezhuthachan, who created a new poetic language for Malayalam, the jury said. His works challenge readers to constantly renew their literary tastes and mark a significant departure from the established sensibility of Malayalam literature. Instituted in 1993, the award was first presented to Sooranad Kunjan Pillai. Methil is the 34th recipient of the honour. K G Sankara Pillai received it last year. INDIA bloc leaders led by Rahul Gandhi, TMC’s Mamata Banerjee, Sonia Gandhi, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav and others in New Delhi on Sunday | Sayantan ghosh CEC Gyanesh has to go: Oppn ‘Foolish drama’ on anniversary of 1984 anti-Sikh riots, says BJP INDIA bloc’s mega rally at Ramlila Maidan brings together all parties p r eet h a na i r @ New Delhi IN a show of strength at Delhi’s historic Ramlila Maidan, a united Opposition on Sunday vowed to remove Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and hold the Narendra Modi government accountable for alleged “vote theft”, as a massive crowd rallied behind the INDIA bloc’s call to defend democracy and the Constitution. The congregation saw a striking show of unity as Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and other alliance leaders rode together in an open canter from the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction to Ramlila Maidan, where they addressed the gathering. Launching a diatribe against the government, Gandhi said removing Gyanesh Kumar would be the first step towards putting the country back on track, while asserting that “the CEC would face imprisonment for alleged ‘treason’ and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah would face legal action.” Calling the 2024 Lok Sabha elections “illegal”, he alleged that the Election Commission removed 15 percent of voters from the rolls, while the voteshare gap between NDA and INDIA bloc in the last general election was three percentage points. “Narendra Modi ji and Amit Shah ji, understand this—after Gyanesh Kumar, we will stand against you...,” he said. Invoking the Constitution, Gandhi said the gathering represented the voice of young people, farmers and workers determined to defend democracy . Addressing the gathering, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav raised the issue of alleged deletions from electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh and accused authorities of manipulating votes through SIR ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections. “We, in the INDIA alliance, will not stop,” he said. Calling upon people across communities and political affiliations to unite against the BJP TMC , chief Banerjee said, “ We will fight this democratically We will fight with our lives.” ... Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi, CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby CPI general secretary D Raja , and CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya were among the senior leaders present. R A J E SH K U M A R T H A K U R & Ha r p r eet Baj w a @New Delhi/Chandigarh The INDIA bloc rally marching towards Ramlila Maidan | Sayantan ghosh Over 4K cops keep a watch Narendra Modi ji and Amit Shah ji, understand this—after Gyanesh Kumar, we will stand against you Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader The rally in central Delhi concluded peacefully on Sunday, police said. Over 4,000 police personnel were deployed, apart from drones, body-worn cameras, anti-riot vehicles and personnel from CAPF. The ruling BJP on Sunday sought to dismiss the INDIA bloc’s rally as a “foolish drama”, accusing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of hurting sentiments on the anniversary of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, addressing a gathering in Chandigarh months ahead of the Punjab Assembly polls, trained his ire on Rahul, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and alleged the rally could only “rub salt in the wounds of the victims’”. “If you want to become PM, stay in mock parliament your entire life. Your turn won’t come. Telling lies, spreading anarchy, not letting Parliament function, this is your true nature,” he charged. Shah said when the Modi government came to power in 2014, riot cases were reopened and relief was given to the kin of victims. “India has never witnessed, nor will it ever witness, riots of this kind, incited by a political party he claimed. ,” In Haryana, BJP national president Nitin Nabin led a counter march to ‘Save democracy, eradicate anarchy’. Calling for Congress to apologise for the riots, he accused the party of blaming constitutional institutions after failing to secure a mandate. In Delhi, Union Minister JP Nadda told media the rally was a “foolish drama of the defeated”. He claimed traders had suffered losses of nearly `3,000 crore due to protests and alleged Sunday’s rally could result in additional losses exceeding `10,000 crore in the crucial festival period. Govt panel’s duties Unchecked intermediary agencies and deliberate procurement delays have inflated Keralam’s annual public drug bill by 50%, driving state expenditure from an estimated `600 crore to `900 crore, and prompting the health department to launch a major clean-up of the public healthcare supply chain. A review by the department following the recent medicine shortage found that artificial supply delays routinely forced the Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd (KMSCL) into emergency purchases carrying markups as high as `192 crore for half-yearly procurements. Intermediaries, allegedly backed by vested groups, exploited these loopholes to collect steep commissions, it was found. An internal audit of the public healthcare supply chain uncovered a network of 22 intermediary agencies involved in drug procurement, most of which emerged over the past decade. Operating as mandatory liaison agents or authorised dealers, these entities effectively blocked medicine manufacturers from participating directly in government tenders. While the quotes appeared compliant on paper, internal records show massive price inflation. For instance, at Thiruvananthapuram’s SAT Hospital In-House Drug Bank, where direct manufacturer supply is encouraged, insulin is procured at `73 per unit. Under KMSCL’s agency-driven system, the same insulin was billed at `99.65, generat- Conduct routine inspections and surprise raids across all 14 district drug warehouses and two subwarehouses unrest Manipur on boil as Kuki youths found dead Reflect, says CJI as urgent listing pleas flood SC E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Kochi double delight P V Sindhu & Lakshya Sen claimed the women’s and men’s singles titles with straight-game wins at the Hylo Open Super 500 badminton event | badminton photo Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Sunday called for introspection on whether there is room to improve the responsiveness of the judicial process in view of the growing tendency of litigants to move the Supreme Court for urgent listing or early hearing of matters pending before high courts. “This is a new dimension of litigation which is now flooding the SC,” he said after inaugurating the celebrations held to mark 70 years of the Kerala HC in Kochi. “The apex court has consist- CJI Surya Kant (2nd R) converses with Chief Justice of Kerala Soumen Sen and SC judge Sarasa Venkatanarayana Bhatti at the inauguration of the Kerala HC’s 70-year celebrations in Kochi. Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal looks on | A Sanesh ently respected the high courts’ institutional autonomy includ, ing their authority to regulate their own roster. However, the frequency of such requests invites us to consider whether there is room to improve the responsiveness of our processes,” he said. “We must ask ourselves: Can urgent matters be identified more effectively? Can listing procedures be made more transparent and predictable? Can technology help prioritise cases where delay may cause irreversible prejudice? And can we ensure a litigant’s access to timely justice does not depend upon their ability to travel to the national capital? These are not questions of institutional criticism, but of collective responsibili● More on P4 ty he said.  ,” India’s first indigenous bullet train on track, undergoes ‘squeeze test’ R A J E SH K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi INDIA’s first indigenous bullet train, called B28, is taking shape at BEML’s ‘ ditya’ facilA ity in Bengaluru. Sharing the details on Sunday, the railway ministry said: “India is taking a major step towards indigenous high-speed rail technology with the Bharat-made bullet train. It is being manufactured for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor.” Sources said the bullet train will be cheaper than the Japanese Shinkansen trains. “India was supposed to buy E5 Shinkansen sets. However, after high quotes and potential delays, the government decided to go Atmanirbhar. Japan will still give two Shinkansen sets (E5 and E3) free for testing,” said an official. Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw inspected the BEML B’luru-Pune corridor next Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday hinted that the proposed Bengaluru-Pune bullet train corridor could be among the next set of high-speed rail projects Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reviewing the manufacturing progress of the bullet train | X plant on Sunday and witnessed the ‘squeeze test’ — a critical safety assessment which includes applying controlled compressive/tensile forces on the traincar body to assess its structural strength, rigidity and dimensional stability . The B28 will have a maximum speed of 280 km/h. It is expected to roll out by the end of this year or early next year. The inaugural run is tentatively fixed for August 15, 2027 on the 97-km Surat–Vapi section. The entire Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail corridor is scheduled for completion around 2029–30. Match physical stocks with digital logs in the Drug Distribution Management System (DDMS) Identify, flag and isolate near-expiry and slowmoving medications before they spoil. Probe artificial supply shortages, emergency buys linked to illegal intermediaries ing a `18.5 crore price difference across just four months. Overall, price differences for all medicines procured through these intermediaries during a six-month stretch in the last financial year totalled `192 crore. “The agencies create artificial shortages to pave the way for emergency purchases at inflated costs,” said a source. “Under the guise of emergency procurement, these agencies even bring in blacklisted firms, showing complete disregard for quality controls and expiry dates.” Citing one instance, the source noted that a rare oncology drug was bought through emergency channels at `80 per unit instead of its standard `64, despite low demand that easily allowed for routine procurement. The health department has now formed a specialised sixmember inspection panel headed by retired SP G Gopakumaran Nair, who had probed KMSCL drug procurement cases while with the Vigilance and Anti-Corrup● More on P4 tion Bureau. Recovery of mutilated bodies of two Kuki youths, who went missing from Kangpokpi district three days ago, triggers fresh protests by villagers | P8 express read Plan fund curbs hit Sahitya Akademi T’Puram: Functioning of the newly-constituted Kerala Sahitya Akademi has been paralysed after the cultural affairs department restricted plan fund allocation and utilisation | P4 Former legislators reunite, reminisce T’Puram: For former speakers and legislators, Kerala Piravi proved an opportunity for reunion. On Sunday, they gathered at the assembly to reminisce about their experiences | P4 Murasu to lash AP, trigger rain in TN Chennai: Cyclonic storm Murasu is likely to intensify by Monday morning and cross south Andhra coast late Monday night even as Chennai and Tiruvallur brace for downpour | P5