WARANGAL  WEDNESDAY  NOVEMBER 04, 2020  `7.00  PAGES 14  CITY EDITION OCTOBER EXPORTS, IMPORTS DIP, TRADE DEFICIT NARROWS After recording positive growth in September, India’s exports fell 5.4% to $24.82 billion in October, latest data showed PETROLEUM, GEMS, LEATHER SHIPMENTS DOWN Lower shipments in petroleum products (down 53.30%) and India’s mainstays gems & jewellery (down 21.27%), and leather (down 16.69%) saw exports falling in the festive month. Imports also fell 11.56% to $33.6 billion, leading to trade deficit narrowing to $8.78 billion. Sectors which grew include rice, oil meals, iron ore, oil seeds, carpet, pharma and spices ■ Stimulus PM MODI TO CHAIR GLOBAL INVESTOR MEET ■ PM Narendra Modi will on Thursday chair a virtual global investor roundtable, which will be attended by leading global investors It will be an exclusive dialogue between global institutional investors, Indian business leaders and the highest decision makers from the Indian govt and financial market regulators P10 PACKAGE WILL BE UNVEILED SOON, SAID TARUN BAJAJ, SECRETARY - DEA 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 Trump or Biden? Florida may offer the earliest clue After around 100 million cast their ballot early, voters queued up to decide who will be their next president amid Covid worries and fears of violence if Trump loses but refuses to concede defeat. A look at the race to 270 electoral college votes for outright victory EXPECT DELAY MARKETS BUOYANT First polls close at 4.30 am IST on Tuesday, but the last one will be open toll 11.30 am on Wednesday, so the final results will be delayed Covid-19 patients, dressed in PPE suits, reach a polling station to vote in the Dubbaka byelection on Tuesday AFTER BOUTS OF VIOLENCE, SMOOTH VOTING IN DUBBAKA P K R I S H N A @ Siddipet THE crucial phase of the byelection for the Dubbaka Assembly seat came to an end on Tuesday when 82.61 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise. This is about two notches lower than the turnout during the 2018 Assembly election, when polling had touched 85.99 per cent. The voters’ verdict, on who should represent Dubbaka in the Telangana Assembly is now , in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) and it will be out on November 10 when the votes are counted. Though campaigning by the three main parties — the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress — was fierce, sometimes leading to scuffles and heated arguments over alleged electoral malpractice, the parties’ workers on Tuesday behaved themselves and ensured that the voting process went off peacefully . The voters, too, were disciplined and followed the Covid19 guidelines while exercising their franchise. Though the queues moved slowly, they VIENNA SHOCKER Four dead, 17 wounded in suspected terror attack EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE AT LEAST four people were killed in Vienna and 17 were wounded, some of them critically when gunmen fired upon , people at random in the Austrian capital on Monday night. One of the assailants, identified as 20-year-old ISIS sympathiser Kujtim Fejzulai, was shot dead by police. He was reportedly wearing a fake suicide vest. Police said they were searching for at least one more shooter still at large. The shooting happened in the heart of Vienna hours before a lockdown started. Of the four killed, two were women, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said, terming it an Islamist terror attack. “It was an attack out of hatred — hatred for our fundamental values, our way of life, our democracy he added. ,” Of the 17 injured, seven were in life-threatening condition. According to reports, the attacker who was shot dead was released from jail last year after spending 22 months for trying to travel to Syria to join the IS. The attack drew widespread condemnation. 82.61 per cent voter turnout Voters began arriving at polling stations as soon they opened at 7 am and by noon a turnout of 34.33 per cent was recorded. This went up to 55.52 per cent by 2 pm, 71.1 per cent by 4 pm and 82.61 per cent by the end of the exercise waited patiently for their turn, in expression of their faith in the democratic process. The TRS has fielded S Sujatha, widow of incumbent Ramalinga Reddy who recently died of a cardiac arrest, the BJP nominated M Raghunandan Rao and the Congress C Srinivas Reddy, who joined the grand old party after TRS denied him a ticket. Tight security Meanwhile, the police beefed up security to prevent any untoward incident in the wake of the clashes between the TRS and the BJP workers in Siddipet on Monday night. At A r e p a l l i , T R S a c t iv i s t s stormed a polling station to which Congress workers took exception to and tried to stop them. Police personnel, who were present in strength, quickly intervened and dispersed the crowd. At Kasulabad in Mirdoddi mandal, they used mild force to disperse clashing Congress and TRS activists. Barring these two incidents, there was no major trouble anywhere in the constituency . Voters began arriving at polling stations as soon they opened at 7 am and by noon a turnout of 34.33 per cent was recorded. This went up to 55.52 per cent by 2 pm, 71.1 per cent by 4 pm and 82.61 per cent by the end of the exercise. Minor glitches Siddipet Collector and Electoral Officer Bharati Hollikeri and Commissioner of Police Joel Davis went around the constituency to ensure peaceful polling. Despite testing the EVMs in advance, nine units had developed glitches but were replaced immediately. There were minor complaints of poor illumination at polling stations, with some saying that it was difficult to see the symbols on the EVMs. CONTINUED ON P2 SECURITY OF DATA ON DHARANI BOTHERS HC EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad EXPRESSING concern over the safety and security of data — such as Aadhaar number and caste particulars of owners of agricultural and non-agricultural land which are being collected for updating land records on the Dharani portal — the Telangana High Court has questioned the State about the basis on which it is collecting the data and its purpose. A division bench on Tuesday said prima facie, the portal makes it mandatory that the Aadhaar number is entered but such requirement is not backed by any law. Also, none of the rules under the Information Technology Act have been included for the protection of the data. In fact, there is no mention in the new Revenue Act either regarding data protection, it said. The information kept in public domain, if accessed by a third party or abused by the State government, will pose danger to the Right to Privacy and it be an irreparable loss to the people, the bench said. CONTINUED ON P4 No uniform rule on how and when to count postal ballots. Also, states differ in postal ballot deadlines. Georgia, for instance, will count ballots received on or before November 3, but others like Ohio will accept late ballots if they have the November 3 postmark COVID THREAT TS health chief asks people to be careful for next 3 months EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Warangal IN view of the ongoing festival season, the Public Health Department has advised people to remain alert and follow the Covid-19 protocols scrupulously. “The next three months are very crucial. One has to be careful so that they do not fall victim to Covid-19,” Public Health Director G Srinivasa Rao said after a review meeting with officials of the District Medical and Health Departm e n t i n Wa r a n g a l o n Tuesday . He urged the people to celebrate festivals responsibly at their homes, as this would help in breaking the Covid-19 chain and preventing a fresh wave of the pandemic. Mass gatherings are likely during Diwali and Christmas at places of worship, shopping centres and commercial establishments, which provide ideal conditions for the virus to thrive, Srinivasa Rao said. “Wearing a mask, washing hands and maintaining distance are a must if one wants to protect oneself,” he said. He gave the example of Kerala, which had managed to contain the virus during the outbreak but is now struggling to keep it in check. A total of 44 lakh tests had been conducted, of which 2.46 lakh tested positive and 1,600 died. He told the officials to step up testing. “The officials need to be on high alert and take all precautions,” he said. CONSIDERING the pandemic situation, the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) has decided to award grace pass marks to second-year students, who could not sit for the Intermediate examimations. As many as, 27,251 students are likely to benefit from this 27,251 students are likely to benefit from the TSBIE’s decision. The grace pass marks are for this academic year only decision. Apart from this, 338 students, who were caught committing malpractices this year, are also being declared as passed. The grace pass marks are for this academic year only , the board said in a release on Tuesday . “The government of Telangana issued orders, GO No.205 dated 03.11.2020, by extending the benefit of Grace Pass Marks to those Intermediate second-year students, who paid the examination fee for the Intermediate Public Exams (IPE) March 2020 and were absent Amid concern over possible violence, with some even fearing a civil war, a fence was erected around the White House complex, the Ellipse and Lafayette Square National Guard troops have been put on standby THE FLORIDA FACTOR Of all the swing states, Florida is the largest with 29 electoral college votes. Its result will be declared early as the state has been counting the mail-in ballots as they arrive, unlike others that begin the counting process today. If Trump loses Florida, analysts say it will be very tough for him to pull off a win | P11 NITISH RULE ENDED ANARCHY, SAYS MODI BOTH TEJASHWI & I ARE THE FUTURE: RAHUL Under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Bihar had left behind the darkness of insecurity and anarchy of the RJD rule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. “Roads and markets today bustle with people even late at night.” “NDA has plundered Bihar and lied to the people. Modi and Nitish are a spent force have not done anything for the state. But our alliance will deliver. Tejashwi ji and me are the future,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said ‘Parivartan’ looks certain, but it may mean more than Nitish or Tejashwi in Bihar MUKESH RANJAN @ Bhagalpur/Kishenganj/Khagaria IF random voices of voters were to be taken as an indication of what might come on November 10, when votes for the Bihar polls are counted, then the state will see a parivartan (change). At many villages and towns, especially in the poorest districts, there is a sense of despair and even anger. On the face of it, this could be interpreted as a sign that the 15-year rule of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is coming to an end and that his challenger, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav, is going to win hands down. Yet, the mood of the people is not as black and white as it may seem, rather there is a lot of grey So while there is a cry for . change, the voters don’t want the RJD. The voters are agreed that Nitish has brought development, but are angry with him that he has failed on employment, migrants and bureaucratic corruption. In other words, the Nitish and Tejashwi seem to be their own biggest enemy Rudra Ku. mar, a final year graduation student at Zero Mile in Naugachia village of Bhagalpur district, said being a Yadav, he would vote for the RJD candidate from his Gopalpur seat but praised both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nitish. Grace pass marks for students who missed Inter exam @ Hyderabad WHITE HOUSE ‘LOCKDOWN’ US stocks led the rally in global equity markets as optimism of Biden’s victory surged and hopes for fresh stimulus. Dow Jones up; major S&P indexes stay north PANDEMIC EFFECT EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE Security fencing put up around White House in Washington on Tuesday | AP due to various reasons. Students, who were exonerated by the Malpractice Scrutiny Committee, shall also be declared ‘pass’ as ‘compartmental’. It shall be a one-time measure only it said. ,” To clear the Intermediate Public Exams (IPE), students need to secure at least 35 per cent marks in each subject and aggregate. CONTINUED ON P5 Voters stand in queues patiently awaiting their turn to cast their votes during the second phase of Bihar Assembly elections in Patna on Tuesday | PTI BIHAR 2020 53.51% “I want the RJD to win from my seat but an NDA government must be formed in Bihar,” he said. Explaining the contradiction, Kumar said: “If Tejashwi Yadav comes to power, there will be jungle raj in Bihar once again.” Tejashwi rallies are drawing huge crowds where the mood is of parivartan, but his party’s record of lawlessness haunts him. And if a taste of things under his possible regime was needed, it came on Tuesday, hours after voting in a constituency of Patna. Kavindra Mahato, 45, and his family were allegedly thrashed by RJD goons for not voting for Turnout in Phase II of Bihar polls till 5 pm. Figure likely to go up. Total 53.79% polling in two phases so far as against 55.35% in 2015 their party The victim has filed . a written complaint with the police against some unknown persons. Narrating the incident to a local video journalist, Mahato alleged that the goons tore his shirt. If Tejashwi falls under his own weight, then Nitish could also trip on his own for which he will have only himself to blame. Anil Kumar Yadav of East Thatha village in Khagaria district, admitted that under Nitish, the state has seen development. “The condition of main roads and highways along with electricity and water has definitely improved in the state,” Yadav said. CONTINUED ON P10 ED slaps `222-cr fine on Hyd-based MBS Jewellers E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad THE Enforcement Directorate has slapped a fine of over `222 crore on city-based MBS Jewellers and a `22-crore fine on its director Sukesh Gutpa for violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and exporting diamonds to Hong Kong. The ED found that MBS Jewellers was guilty of the contravention of the provisions of the FEMA, to the extent of $41,123,963.29 which is equal to `222,44,51,324 and imposed a fine on the jeweller for the same amount. Further, a penalty of `22,24,45,132 has been imposed on the director for FEMA violations. The ED said both the fines have to be paid within 45 days from the date of the receipt of the order by the violators.