tirupati l monday l november 02, 2020 l `7.00 l PAGES 28 l anantapur EDITION J&K chief of hizb saifullah liquidated in encounter His killing, just months after he took over as Hizbul commander, comes as a huge success for the security forces one of the last members of burhan group Acting on a tip-off about the presence of terrorists in Rangreth, near Srinagar, a search party comprising members of CRPF, Army and the local police launched a joint operation. As they closed in on the hiding terrorists, they came under fire, and an encounter ensured. Saifullah was killed on the spot. He was one of the last surviving members of the Burhan Wani group ■ 200 took over Hizbul Mujahideen in may ■ Saifullah had succeeded Riyaz Naikoo as the Hizbul chief soon after Naikoo was killed by security forces in Pulwama in May He is the third Hizbul leader to be eliminated since the 2016 killing of Burhan Wani. Saifullah was involved in many attacks on secuirty forces and played a key role in attracting youth to militancy terrorists killed in kashmir so far this year: Police CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Why swing states matter Indian Americans stats 28.4 lakh To t a l 1% of population 0.82% p o p u l a t i o n of eligible voters P u s h k a r B a n a k a r @ New Delhi I n d ian A m e r ican s in s wing s t a t e s Michigan 16 77,132 0.78 Wisconsin 10 22,899 0.4 Minnesota 10 33,031 0.52 Pennsylvania 20 1,03,026 0.8 North Carolina 15 57,400 0.6 Arizona 11 36,047 0.56 Florida 1,28,735 0.68 29  Number of votes in electoral college Georgia 16 96,116 0.99  IndianAmerican population  % of population Indirect voting Voters don’t directly vote for the president but for a group of people known as electors Electoral College figures Each elector represents one vote in the electoral college, Every state has a certain number of electoral college votes, partly based on population Total number of votes Magic number 538 270 Indian-American factor in battleground states Votes of swing states 127 At under 1% of the US population, Indian-Americans don’t count for much in the country’s November 3 presidential elections. But which way they will swing in eight key battleground states — Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minn e s o t a , N o r t h C a ro l i n a , Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — could impact the final outcome, as these states collectively hold 24% of electoral college votes (see box). The candidate who gets at least 270 electoral college votes wins the jackpot, not the one who bags the highest popular votes, as the 2016 experience showed. Needless to say every , vote counts in swing states. Unlike in the rest of the US, these swing states are not clearly Democrat- or Republican-leaning, so Indian-Americans could possibly play a marginal yet decisive role there. The prosperous IndianAmerican community is so thinly spread out in the 50 US states that in almost all of them, they number less than 0.5% of the average population. But in the swing states, their numbers are better. According to the 2010 US Census, Indian-Americans make up 0.66% of the population on an average in the swing states with Georgia having the highest, 0.99%, and Wisconsin the lowest, 0.4%. “Indian Americans make up only 0.82% of the eligible voters, which is not much. But 91 million votes Already cast What polsters say  mail-in 33 million in-person It’s going to be a very interesting Tuesday. You have a big red wave that has formed. Nobody’s ever seen anything like this - Donald Trump Percentage of voters likely to vote for Biden/Trump The three major aspects the State government is likely to raise in the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) meeting, scheduled on Monday are seek, ing confirmation of the revised cost estimates (RCE) at the 201718 price level (PL), unconditional release of pending reimbursements as the issue of RCE in all likelihood has to go to the Union Cabinet if the price level has to be revised, and pointing out that the water supply component is included in the national project funding. Sources in the Water Resources Department said that a presentation would be made in which the officials are expected to inform that the RCE at the 2017-18 PL was submitted at the repeated requests of Polavar- We will prevail upon the PPA to inform the MoJS that the RCE at 2017-18 Price Level should be considered A senior water resources official am Project Authority . Sources added that the officials would push for the 2017-18 PL, which was sought by the PPA and later approved and recommended by the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and Revised Cost Committee (RCC) of the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS). “We will prevail upon the PPA to inform the MoJS that the RCE at 2017-18 PL should be considered. The MoJS is responsible to get the investment clearance from the Centre. So, it will have to recommend the latest rates for the Polavaram national project execution,” a senior official explained. If the PPA agrees to recommend the 2017-18 PL, it will be sent to the MoJS, which in turn will forward it to the Union Ministry of Finance (MoF). However, the MoF is bound by the Union Cabinet resolution passed in March, 2017, which said that the Centre would provide 100 per cent of the remaining cost of the irrigation component of the project for the P5 costs as on April 1, 2014.  express read India slams Pak’s Gilgit-Baltistan move Haryana weighs law against ‘love jihad’ New Delhi: India on Sunday lashed out at Pakistan for its attempt to accord provincial status to the “so-called Gilgit-Baltistan”. The Ministry of External Affairs said the move is intended to camouflage Pakistan’s “illegal” occupation of the region Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister ML Khatar said on Sunday that the state is considering bringing in a new law to address “love jihad”, a day after Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath announced his government’s intention to do the same 30 50 90 44 Latino Black White Source: The New York Times/Siena College poll on Oct 20 S i s t l a D a k s h i n a M u r t h y @ Vijayawada The ongoing tussle over entering an inter-state agreement with Telangana for resumption of bus services is likely to be resolved with the officials of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) scheduled to meet their TSRTC counterparts in Hyderabad on Monday . As per the agreement, which the APSRTC had agreed in principle, it has to not just reduce the number of kilometres that it is running in TS but also cut down on 350 services to Hyderabad from various parts of the State. Speaking to TNIE on Sunday APSRTC Vice-Chair, man and Managing Director MT Krishna Babu confirmed that the corporation has to reduce around 350 operations to Hyderabad from various parts of AP soon after entering the inter-state agreement. The APSRTC used to run around 900 bus services to Hyderabad, earning a good revenue. The APSRTC used to operate buses for a total distance of 2.61 lakh kilometres per day in Telangana before the Covid-19 P5 pandemic.  Idol makers of Tirupati turn workers for survival Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, almost 70 per cent of artisans of Bommala Colony engaged in making idols, have diversified. They are now working as construction workers, agricultural labourers and daily wagers for survival. Around 250 artisan families are engaged in making Ganesh idols in the colony They used to earn an . annual income of `2.5 lakh per family. But the situation has changed following the outbreak of Covid-19. “We received no orders for Ganesh idols for Vinayaka Chavithi due to Covid-19 curbs,”  biden trump 50 covid effect D s u r e n d r a k u m a r @ Tirupati @ New Delhi 4 AP to push for acceptance of RCE AP, TS likely to at 2017-18 PL at PPA meet today reach pact to run bus services J aya n t h P @ Vijayawada Express News Service Race factor million votes cast in 2016 have already been cast in early voting, with the Election still two days away We’re done with the chaos, the tweets, the anger, the failure, the refusal to take any responsibility - Joe Biden Finance ministry sees it as an indicator of economic recovery but experts are wary Continued on P7 58 million 66% of the total 139 Biden is leading in both national and state-wide opinion polls. Even Trump-supporting Fox News said in its latest poll on Sunday that Biden has a clear 8% lead over the US president, with the majority of voters trusting Biden more than Trump to handle Covid-19 better Over `1 lakh cr GST yield after eight months they are significant for a few reasons. First, because of their presence in swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin,” said Kriti Upadhyaya, a researcher at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies. Citing her institute’s tally, she said the Indian-American population is 1,56,000, 1,25,000 and 37,000 respectively in these three states. “In these states where the 2016 victory was achieved through rather narrow margins, each vote counts and the Indian Americans make up a vote bank that can make or break a candidate’s chances of victory she added. ,” said K Vasudha, an artisan. Earlier, each member of an artisan’s family used to earn between `400 and `600 a day during the festival season by making idols. Normally the artisan families used to , get orders for around 80,000 to 90,000 Ganesh idols every year for the festival. “We have been engaged in this profession for the last 30 years,” she said. About 70 artisans and their families in the colony are eking out a , living by making colour chalk pieces used for rangoli. Some families have returned to their native villages as they could not find P5 work in the temple town.  WITH THIS ISSUE THE ESSENTIAL CAMPUS DIGEST YOUR LIFE COACH 28 PAGES, INCLUDING 16 OF edex (TABLOID) With the Goods and Service Tax (GST) mop-up in October crossing `1 lakh crore for the first time in the current fiscal, mainly on account of the current festival season, the finance ministry saw in it an indicator of economic recovery though experts continued to be wary . The overall October collection was `1,05,155 crore. The last time GST revenue had crossed the `1 lakh crore milestone was in February 2020, when it totted up `1,05,366 crore. The total number of GSTR-3B returns filed till October 31 is 80 lakh. “The growth in GST revenue as compared to that in months of July, August and September, 2020 of -14%, -8% and 5% respectively clearly shows the trajectory of recovery of the economy and, correspondingly, of the revenues,” the finance ministry said in a statement. However, experts warned it is too early to predict recovery . “Given the festivities, collections in November could also be robust. We would need to see if this trend continues after November,” PwC India partner Pratik Jain said. Eight million returns were filed as the last date for claiming input tax credit for 2019-20 was September 30 and a lot of companies must have carried out a yearly reconciliation and asked their vendors to file returns or report missi n g t r a n s a c t i o n s, among other factors, he reasoned. Of the total GST collection in October, CGST was `19,193 crore, SGST `25,411 crore, IGST `52,540 crore and cess `8,011 crore. The total revenue earned by Central and the state governments after regular settlement in October is `44,285 crore and `44,839 crore respectively . The compensation cess collection rose to `8,011 crore as against `7,124 crore the previous month. Of this, `932 crore was from imports as against `788 crore in September. divine appearance For Arjitha Brahmotsavam, the processional deity was brought out from the temple at Tirumala on Sunday Due to Covid, the deity was not brought out for 228 days and all rituals were held inside the temple till now TTD is likely to resume a few Arjitha Sevas virtually inside Srivari temple from the second week of November AP set to achieve rapid growth overcoming all hurdles: CM E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has asserted that the State will forge ahead overcoming all hurdles being created by vested interests and manipulators. Greeting the people of the State through a video conference on the occasion of AP State Formation Day after hoisting the national flag and paying floral tributes to Amarajeevi Potti Sriramulu, whose sacrifice after 58 days of indefinite fast resulted in the formation of separate Telugu State - Andhra and then Andhra Pradesh, the Chief Minister said it is time to review what progress was achieved all these years and decide on the future course of action. “Our State is the result of the sacrifice of many and they should be inspiration for betterment of the society for the golden future of all of us. But among all States, Andhra Pradesh has suffered the most, “ he said. Even now, 33 per cent of the population in the State are illiterate and nearly 85 per cent are below the poverty line. About 90 lakh women are struggling for survival. One crore acres of land need irrigation facility and 32 lakh poor families in the P5 State are looking for roof of their own.