kannur l Sunday l march 14, 2021 l `8.00 l PAGES 24 l city edition Bitcoin breaks records, price soars past `43 lakh The cryptocurrency hit $60,197 (K43,75,675) on Saturday and continues to hover around $60K, according to CoinMarketCap Value trebles in three months Bitcoin has been on a meteoric rise since March last year, when it stood at $5,000, spurred by online payments giant PayPal saying it would allow account holders to use cryptocurrency. From $20,000 in December 2020, the digital currency has tripled in value over the past three months on the back of support from corporate heavyweights such as Tesla and Twitter ■ U.S. Protocol built on blockchain ■ Bitcoins are traded via a decentralised registry system known as a blockchain. The system requires massive computer processing power in order to manage and implement transactions That power is provided by “miners”, who do so in the hope they will receive new bitcoins for validating transaction data STIMULUS PACKAGE TRIGGERED THE LATEST BITCOIN RALLY, SAY EXPERTS 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 IN OR OUT? DECISION PENDING. HOPEFULS WAIT Kannanthanam, Suresh Gopi may get BJP seats E x p r ess N e w s S e r v i c e @ T’Puram HECTIC parleys by the BJP’s central election committee to finalise candidates for the upcoming assembly elections continued late into Saturday night and the final candidate list is expected to be released on Sunday. BJP state chief K Surendran said the party will contest in 115 seats while the rest will b e a l l o c at e d t o N DA constituents. The central leadership is reportedly keen on fielding former union minister and Rajya Sabha MP Alphons Kannanthanam and actor-MP Suresh Gopi. While Kannanthanam may be fielded f ro m Kanjirap p ally, Suresh Gopi may be allotted Thrissur. Sources said state president K Surendran is being considered for Manjeshwar in Kasaragod district where he lost the previous assembly election by 89 votes. Metroman E Sreedharan is likely to contest from Palakkad. With the candidature of Union Minister V Muraleedharan Interview Cong-mukt Bharat not our aim In an interview to Anil S, CPM politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan says the CPM does not subscribe to the BJP slogan of a ‘Congress-mukt’ Bharat. He says the BJP will neither be able to occupy the UDF space nor become an alternative to the Left. P2 list likely today  Kannanthanam may be fielded from Kanjirappally while Suresh Gopi may be allotted Thrissur  State president K Surendran being considered for Manjeshwar in Kasaragod, said sources  With V Muraleedharan out of the fray, BJP is trying to find a replacement in Kazhakootam  Central leadership wants BJP training programme co-convener R Balashankar in Chengannur being ruled out, the party is also trying to find a suitable replacement in A+ constituency Kazhakkoottam where he contested the previous election. The central leadership also wants to field R Balashankar, co-convener, BJP national training programme, in Chengannur. The central leadership is understood to have approved the candidature of Kummanam Rajasekharan from Nemom, P K Krishnadas from Kattakkada and C K Padmanabhan from Dharmadam. poll tricks Joseph faction names candidates Kochi: The Kerala Congress Joseph faction on Saturday released its list of candidates for the 10 seats in which the party is contesting. Incumbent legislators P J Joseph and Mons Joseph will once again seek people’s mandate from Thodupuzha and Kaduthuruthy seats, respectively. Widespread protests in cong The Congress on Saturday faced widespread protests from its workers over seat sharing. The workers staged a protest near senior leader Oommen Chandy’s house demanding him not to switch constituency. Kollam, Palakkad and Tirurangadi also witnessed similar incidents Puthuppally & Nemom: Dual role for Chandy? C Y N T H I A C H A N D R A N @ T’Puram Amid conflicting reports, former CM Oommen Chandy said here on Saturday that he is most likely to contest from his sitting seat, Puthuppally. But the senior leader could also be contesting from Nemom in a case of ‘dual candidature’, a decision on which has been left to the Congress’ national leadership. The party’s central election committee (CEC) is scheduled to announce the candidate list in 91 seats on Sunday . After Chandy’s supporters created emotional scenes on CPI announces 4 more candidates T’Puram: The CPI has announced candidates for four seats which were withheld earlier. C C Mukundan will contest in Nattika and K Chinchurani will contest from Chadayamangalam. M T Nikson will contest from Paravur while AIYF state president Sajilal will contest in Harippad where Opposition leader is contesting. Oommen Chandy speaks to supporters on his arrival at Puthuppally from New Delhi on Saturday | Express BJP keen to lure Christian leaders in state E Xp r ess ne w s se r v i c e @ New Delhi With the full-fledged election campaign set to take off from Sunday, the BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) on Saturday met to finalise names of the remaining candidates in the poll-bound states. The CEC meeting was preceded by two days of marathon meetings at the residence of the party chief J P Nadda for each poll bound state. The meeting continued till late Saturday evening, with the party leaning on turncoats and known state faces to contest elections, The BJP chief held a long meeting with Kerala leaders till late on Friday evening. The party plans to go aggressive in the state with professionals and Christian leaders imported from the ranks of the Congress. The meeting was attended by Shah, organisational secretary B L Santosh and others . Jacobite bishops fail to get Shah appointment E x p r ess N e w s S e r v i c e @ Kochi JACOBITE bishops, who went to New Delhi, had to return disappointed as their much hyped meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah did not happen. Sources said the bishops were upset at the turn of events and they returned on Saturday evening. Metropolitan trustee Bishop Joseph Mor Gregorios, Synod secretary Bishop Thomas Mor Thimothios, resident metropolitan Bishop Ku- Mask up or get deboarded, warns aviation regulator E x p r ess N e w s S e r v i c e @ New Delhi Air passengers who refuse to wear face masks properly or follow social distancing rules during a flight despite being warned repeatedly could be put on the no-fly list for a period ranging from three months to two years. These are part of the new guidelines issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation amid a rise in the number of cases across the country. Airlines have been instructed to deboard passengers who refuse to comply with Covid-19 rules before a flight takes off. India’s civil aviation rules for unruly passengers allow airlines to put people on a nofly list for varying durations and two years or more for lifethreatening behaviour. riakose Mor T heophilos and metropolitan Yuhanan Milithios went to New Delhi on Friday to meet Shah. It is learnt that a senior leader had promised to arrange a meeting with the home minister. However, it seems the BJP leadership had second thoughts as any indication of a deal with the Jacobites will upset the Orthodox faction. The BJP did not want to antagonise the Orthodox faction as the par- ty expects their support in Tiruvalla for the assembly polls. When the bishops reached Delhi on Friday, they were asked to stay back for a day as the home minister was busy But since . they did not get any assurance regarding the meeting till Saturday evening, the bishops decided to retur n home. The Jacobite Synod had decided, in principle, to support the BJP if the party assures to favour the faction in the church row. Heat on Amazon, Flipkart as bill targets deep discounting What’s in the draft E-commerce players to make their discount policies transparent by explaining the basis of discount rates for different products and suppliers his arrival at Puthuppally on Saturday the 77-year-old prom, ised not to ditch them. A majority of them were not convinced as he has been wavering on his ‘dual candidature’, confusing political circles. It is learnt there is huge pressure on the 11-time Puthuppally MLA to contest from Nemom too. While the Chandy camp feels it is highly unwarranted of the state leadership to field him from Nemom, a section of leaders feels otherwise. They vouch that his candidature in Nemom will only keep the party in good ● More on P4 stead.  Govt to ensure availability of more service providers and stop digital monopolies misusing their dominant market position Companies to ensure products offered are genuine; liability for counterfeit products will be on the online firm and the seller E x p r ess ne w s se r v i c e @ New Delhi In a bid to check the alleged unfair business practices by large e-commerce players such as Amazon, Flipkart and e-Bay the Centre on Saturday proposed , that they desist from deploying algorithms to promote a select few sellers or offering deep discounts only to a small group of vendors. According to the draft e-commerce policy all vendors , registered on their platforms must be treated equally . While the draft policy seeks to tighten the noose around large e-commerce players, it also offers several measures to safeguard consumer interest, counter misleading sales and regulate data Consumers have right to know all relevant details about the goods and services offered for sale including country of origin or any such info which may be necessary for making an informed purchase decision usage. “Consumers have a right to be made aware of all relevant details about the goods and services offered for sale including country of origin, value addition in India, and any other such information which may be necessary for making an informed decision at the pre-purchase stage,” it said. According to a commerce ministry official, the policy will prevent monopoly by large e commerce companies like Amazon. “There have been many reports and complaints of these firms excluding sellers by denying them equal platform, refusing to provide transparency in data sharing and evading some of the foreign investment rules,” said an official. Congress rebel in Perambra Kozhikode: The decision to give Perambra seat to the IUML has not gone down well with a section of Congress workers in the constituency. They have come out stating that a rebel candidate will be fielded here as a protest against the decision. The workers criticised party local and district leadership for taking wrong decisions in Perambra during LSG polls. An under-construction house for protesting farmers adjacent the highway, at Tikri border in New Delhi on Saturday | PTI farmers booked for building structures at Delhi gates E x p r ess N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chandigarh/New Delhi The Haryana Police have booked farmers for allegedly constructing concrete structures and sinking a borewell near Singhu towards Kundli on National Highway-44. The Singhu border near Delhi is the venue where hundreds of farmers congregated in protest against the new farm laws for months. Sources said the state police have registered two separate cases under the National Highway Act and various sections of the IPC for building illegal structures on NH-44 in front of Malwa Motors, obstructing the highway, and digging a borewell in a field near KFC Mall that is close to the highway . However, Harinder Singh Lakhowal, general secretary of BKU (Lakhowal), said, “We are not constructing Solar panels to manage summer “This is just the beginning of summer. The government has not provided any power connection, so we are installing solar panels as as to be able to run small fans,” said a UP farmer any permanent structure, but plan to install solar panels in order to save the farmers from the summer.” Labourers though can be seen constructing structures on the roadside at various places along the Singhu border. There are four double-storey houses that are being built at the border. The mas o n s h ave c o m e f r o m Punjab. At present, the numerical strength of farmers at the protest sites in Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur is thin as many have returned to their villages for harvesting. W ITH THI S I S S UE Silver Linings Playbook PLUS 12 PAGES