New navy chief takes charge Newly appointed Naval Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar hugs his mother during his charge taking ceremony in New Delhi on Tuesday. He was serving as the Flag Officer Commandingin-Chief of the Western Naval Command before taking the reins of the Navy. He replaced Admiral Karambir Singh who has retired after 41 years of service | PTI | P7 tirupati l wednesday l december 1, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION 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 THE UPSIDE Exceeds expectations GDP grows 8.4% in the July-August 2021 quarter better than analysts’ expectations Indian economy had grown 20.1% in the previous quarter but that was due to low base effect FMCG slips Latest GDP growth numbers show that India’s economic growth has surpassed pre-Covid levels FY22 Core sector up The govt estimates fiscal deficit at 6.8% of the GDP in the current fiscal India likely to have double-digit growth this fiscal, aided by rising demand and a robust banking sector Chief Economic Adviser K V Subramanian The output of eight core sectors rose 7.5% in October on healthy performance by coal, natural gas, refinery products and cement segments The FMCG sector grew 12.6% annually in Q2 againt 36.9% in Q1, according to market research firm Nielsen The production of eight infrastructure sectors (coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity) had contracted 0.5% in October 2020 Rural markets saw 2.9% dip in volume due to slowdown in consumption Growth engine picks up speed GDP expands 8.4% in second quarter, beats expectations and surpasses pre-Covid levels A n u r a d h a S h u k l a @ New Delhi India’s GDP grew 8.4% in the July-September 2021 quarter, on the back of improving private consumption and industrial activities, giving the government hope that growth will be in double digits in the current financial year. The growth has surpassed pre-Covid levels. In value terms, GDP stood at `35,73,451 cr during July-September 2021, higher than the `35,61,530 crore recorded in the corresponding period in 2019-20, before Covid. The economy had contracted 7.4% in July-September quarter of 2020-21, data released by the National Statistical Office showed. “Overall growth for the first half has been 13.7%. So, even a little more than 6% growth in the subsequent quarters should be able to deliver double-digit growth for this year,” said Chief Economic Advisor K V Subramanian. This confidence was boosted by the output of the eight core sectors, which grew 7.5% in Oc- tober against a 0.5% contraction a year ago. Agriculture was steady despite an uneven monsoon, while other sectors showed signs of improvement. Notably, private final consumption expenditure in the economy grew 8.6% growth at `19,48,346 crore against `17,93,863 crore. The government’s final consumption expenditure also grew from `3,32,582 crore to `3,61,616 crore. Experts, however, advise caution. “The disaggregated data is far from convincing, with considerable lags in private and government consumption expenditure being absorbed by a sharp rise in valuables relative to the pre-Covid level of Q2 FY2020,” said Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ICRA. The latest NielsenIQ’s FMCG Snapshot for the third quarter of 2021 narrates a mixed bag consumption story. While the FMCG sector grew at 12.6% in the July-September quarter, the growth was urban led with rural India seeing a slowdown due to consumption decline. no hurdles @ Vijayawada The hurdles for the construction of houses for the poor under the Pedalandariki Illu, the flagship programme of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government, have been cleared. A division bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday allowed the government to go ahead with the construction of houses. The bench also said observations made in the single judge’s order would not create any negative impact on the programme. The single judge bench had stayed the construction of houses under the scheme in October. The State government went for an appeal before the division bench. The government plans to allot sites and construct houses for 30 lakh beneficiaries in the State under the scheme. The counsel on behalf of 128 petitioners, VSR Anjaneyulu, informed the court that they would like to withdraw their pleas. The petitioners told that they had filed the pleas only to get house sites and prayed the HC to give suitable orders.  P4 challenge of URban unemployment is yet to be addressed, as the jobless figure climbed marginally despite the economy doing better Unemployment rate among females in urban areas Jan-Mar 2020 13.1% Jan-Mar 2021 11.8% Unemployment rate among men in urban areas Oct-Dec 2020 9.5% 8.6% Jan-Mar2021 Unemployment rate inches up to 9.3% in Jan-March qtr: NSO E x p r e s s n e w s s e r v i ce @ New Delhi URBAN unemployment rate has increased to 9.3% in the January-March 2021 period from 9.1% in the year-ago period, according to a periodic labour force survey by the National Statistical Office (NSO). While 9.3% is lower than the peak urban unemployment level of 20.8% recorded in the April-June quarter of last year, it is still at higher than preCovid levels. CMIE data The figures, released on Tuesday also showed that un- According to , employment among women is the monthly rising as 11.3% women in the unemployment labour force found themselves data released without a job in the January- by the Centre March 2021 quarter compared for Monitoring to 10.6% in the year-ago peri- Indian od. Unemployment among Economy males remained at the same (CMIE), joblessness in level as last year, at 8.6%. Labour force participation the country rate (percentage of persons stood at 7.13% in labour force in the popula- as on tion) in urban areas came November 29 down to 47.5% in JanuaryMarch quarter of 2021, compared to 48.1% in the same period a year ago. Women’s participation in the labour force at 21.2% in the January-March quarter was lower than 21.9% in the same quarter previous year though it was better than 20.6% in the October-December 2020 quarter. The working population ratio, defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population, stood at 43.1% in January-March 2021, down from 43.7% a year ago. NASSCOM Centre of Excellence on IoT & AI, the first in AP Andhra Pradesh will be transformed into an innovation hub, and a centre of excellence by Amazon will be set up soon, said Industry Minister Gautham Reddy, while inaugurating the centre | P3 We aim at 100% graduation rate, besides total literacy: CM E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i ce @ Vijayawada Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said the government is aiming not only for 100% literacy in the State but also for 100% graduation rate and the Jagananna Vidya Deevena Scheme (total fee reimbursement) is the first step to achieve the target. Speaking after releasing `686 crore as the third tranche of Vidya Deevena, benefiting 11.03 lakh students, on Tuesday, he opined that only education can eliminate poverty and empower people. The sum was directly credited into bank accounts of 9,87,965 mothers of Vidya Deevena beneficiaries. The government has spent `6,259 crore for implementing the total fee reimbursement scheme since 2019, including `1,778 crore pending dues of the previous regime, benefiting 21,48,477 students. Highlighting the scheme, Jagan said, “One’s fate can be changed only with education. We want to see doctors, engineers and other professionals emerge from all sections of society, so poverty gets eliminated. With this very objective, my father YS Rajasekhara Reddy introduced the scheme, but the subsequent governments diluted it. We revived it after coming to power.” Deploring the neglect of the scheme by previous governments, he asked, “If dues are not paid to colleges in time, how can one expect them to pay salaries and improve infraP4 structure?”  legendary lyricist Sirivennela passes away in hyderabad M u r a l i K r i s h n a C h @ Hyderabad 10.6% Oct-Dec 2020 au gets HC allows govt to go ahead on housing for poor E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i ce The DOWNSIDE `686 crore released A sum of `686 crore was released as the third tranche of the Jagananna Vidya Deevena scheme, benefiting 11.03 lakh students in the State GER rises to 35.2% The All India Survey on Higher Education revealed that the GER of students in 17-23 age group in colleges rose to 35.2% in AP Renowned Telugu film lyricist and Padma Shri awardee Chembolu Seetharama Sastry, popularly known as Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry, died of lung cancer in a corporate hospital in Secunderabad on Tuesday afternoon. He was 66 and is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. His family members admitted him to the hospital on November 24 after he complained of uneasiness. His condition got deteriorated on Tuesday and he died. With his demise, Telugu cinema lost a great personality who was known for his versatility in using the nuances of Telugu language while penning songs. Born on May 20, 1955, at Anakapalli in Andhra Pradesh, Seetharama Sastry had his secondary education in 1 9 5 5 - 2 0 2 1 his hometown before completing his Intermediate education in Kakinada and BA in Andhra Viswa Kala Parishad. He worked in BSNL before his brother Sreerama Sastry discovered his talent and encouraged him to pursue a career in the film industry. Seetharama Sastry made his debut as a film lyricist with Janani Janmabhoomi (1984). He cemented his legacy with director K Viswanath’s Sirivennela (1986) and the film’s success has become his pseudo-identity as a P4 prefix to his own name.  Jab-o-meter Take your shot November 29 70,85,126 doses November 30 72,49,189 doses Total: 1,24,01,57,719 NATIONWIDE Nov 29 Nov 30 Fresh cases 8,309 6,990 Recoveries Deaths 9,905 236 10,116 190 statewide Nov 29 nov 30 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths Samples tested 101 138 1 18,730 184 134 3 25,925 express read Cyclonic storm likely to hit north coastal AP Vijayawada: A cyclonic storm is likely to hit the coasts of AP and Odisha on December 4. An orange alert has been issued to north coastal Andhra. Isolated heavy to very heavy rains with squally winds of 80-90 kmph are very likely from December 3 to 5.