coimbatore l wednesday l March 24, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION India SKIPS votE on UNHRC Resolution ON sRI LANKA However, the resolution was adopted at the United Nations body as it garnered the support of 22 of the 47 member states India ASKS lanka to empower Tamils gLOBAL PRESSURE to probe war crimes Eleven members voted against the resolution titled ‘Promotion of Reconciliation Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka’ tabled by the Core Group on Sri Lanka consisting of countries such as the UK, Canada and Germany. India, however, reiterated its demand to devolve political power to Tamils in Sri Lanka including holding early polls to provincial councils ■ ■ The resolution calls upon the Sri Lankan government to ensure thorough and impartial investigation on all its alleged war crimes The resolution was moved after a scathing report released by the UN rights watchdog in January warned that Colombo’s lack of accountability increased the risk of war crimes 14 Countries, including India, abstained from voting on the sri lanka resolution 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 Poll digest press clusive 13 DAyS TO GO SC ends moratorium interest riddle EPS an incarnation of Amma: RB Udhayakumar Rules compound interest during grace period be waived; asks banks to refund amounts collected Page 6 E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e Tall promises DMK chief MK Stalin promises `4,000 Covid relief fund on former CM M Karunanidhi’s birth anniversary | read on P4 MP Md John dies after campaign E XPR E S S N E W S S E RVIC E The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that compound interest on loans of all borrowers between March and August 2020 will be fully waived. This is nothing but a fiscal stimulus bearing an SC imprint and is, strangely, effective retrospectively It may also be . the first time interest-on-interest is being waived uniformly which , will cost the exchequer `15,000 crore. Of this, the Centre had presumably spent `5,500 crore. Hearing a batch of petitions, a three-judge bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan refused to allow a complete waiver of interest on loans, which the government pegged at `6 lakh crore. Such a sum could charge the earth and seriously impact the financial health of a string of banks. The SC also refused to extend the moratorium period beyond August 2020 Last October, the Centre agreed to waive interest-on-interest component for retail and small business loans up to `2 crore for six months. The benefit was extended to MSMEs, education loans, housing loans, loans ‘Fiscal policies not amenable to judicial review’ Noting that policy decisions are better left to the government and regulators, the bench said economic policies are not amenable to judicial review and court can’t interfere unless there are malafides and arbitrariness @ Ranipet/Chennai AIADMK’s minorities wing joint secretary and Rajya Sabha member A Mohammed John died of ‘sudden severe’ heart attack on Tuesday in Ranipet. He was 73. Sources said the former minister developed chest pain while he was resting at home following a campaign. He was immediately rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital in Walajapet. The doctors declared him brought dead. He was to address another rally that evening. CM Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy CM O Panneerselvam condoled his death.  P7 Vax eligibility for 45+ from next month S u m i S u k a n ya D u t ta @ New Delhi The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday approved Covid-19 vaccination for all citizens above 45 years across the country beginning April 1, adding an estimated 18-19 crore people to the beneficiary list. By expanding the ambit, about 30% of the India’s 1.3 billion population can expect to shield themselves against the pandemic. The vaccines can be taken free of cost in government hospitals or by paying `250 per dose in private facilities. “I appeal to every citizen who is 45 or above to register for vaccination,” Union information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar said after the Cabinet meeting. “This decision has been taken by the Cabinet on the basis of the advice of the coronavirus task force and experts,” he said, assuring there is enough supply of vaccine to ensure immunisation of all eligible beneficiaries. The expansion of the vaccination drive comes in wake of what looks like a second wave of the pandemic in several states with chief ministers of Maharashtra, Delhi and Punjab, asking the Centre to let all above 40 or 45 years take the jab. So far, nearly 4.85 crore across categories have got the shots, of whom about 80 lakh have completed the two dose regimen. from 40,715 New cases across India, 80.9% of which areand TN Maharashtra, 202.3 Case doubling time on March 23 Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh as against 504.4 on March 1 for consumer durables, credit card dues, auto loans, personal and professional loans and consumption loans. The waiver will now be extended to all borrowers, including large industries. Any amount collected as compound interest shall be adjusted to the next instalments payable. The SC also lifted asset standstill on loans. This means, banks are now free to classify loans as bad if they deemed so and make recoveries. It is estimated the NPAs will swell by `1.3 lakh to `8.5 lakh crore.  P12 new day, new high Chennai: Tamil Nadu reported 1,437 fresh Covid cases and nine deaths taking the tally to 8,69,804 and toll to 12,618 on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Dr K Vinay Kumar, Joint Director (Immunsation), Directorate of Public Health, said the State received an additional 1.52 lakh doses of Covid vaccine. Another supply of 10 lakh doses of Covishield is expected by the first week of April new cases in tn discharged 1,437 902 Longing to return home from the ‘desert’ of trauma C S HIVAKUMAR @ Chennai A little extra money can do no harm, at least that was what Jayanthi Arumugam (49) thought before she took up the job as a maid in Doha in 2019. All she wanted was to get her youngest daughter married. While her husband stayed back in Chennai, visas were arranged for Jayanthi and their son. Both of them landed jobs under the same employer. Having worked as a maid in Saudi before, Jayanthi did not think twice before plunging into this job that offered her `30,000 salary However, her son was sent to Sau. di. After that, not only was her salary cut, but she was also subjected to physical and emotional abuse. Unable to bear the trauma, she fled home and sought help from the Indian Embassy only to be handed over back to her employer, citing Covid.  (Read full story on newindianexpress.com)