twitter kozhikode l thursday l may 26, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION ‘Advanced economies to be back on track by 2024’ However, developing economies will be 5% below where they would have been otherwise, according to IMF’s Gita Gopinath There have been Divergent recoveries ‘We have a Cost of living crisis’ Speaking at a special session on ‘What next for global growth?’ during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022 on Wednesday, Gopinath said there have been very divergent recoveries around the world. The First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund also noted that the war in Ukraine has been a major setback to the global recovery ■ “We had a serious downgrade to the global growth rate and the world continues to face headwinds because we have a cost of living crisis. Prices of commodities including fuel and food are going up around the world,” she said, adding that central banks are trying to tackle such high inflation by raising interest rates 2026-27 By WHEN India WILL Become A $5-TrillioN ECONOMY, ACCORDING TO IMF’s REVISED DATA CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI It is among the gravest of offences, says NIA court, wants verdict to serve as deterrent to those drawn to violence lifer to Malik for funding terror in J&K A nk i ta U pa d h yay @ New Delhi Jailed Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik being escorted by police officers to a special court in New Delhi for sentencing on Wednesday | Parveen Negi hate speech P C George arrested amid high drama E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Kochi Former MLA P C George was arrested on Wednesday in the Thiruvananthapuram hate speech case, ending several days of drama that saw the senior politician remaining untraceable since Saturday. George was taken into custody when he arrived at the Palarivattom police station here in the afternoon to give a statement in the Vennala hate speech case. In the evening, officers from the Fort police station reached Kochi and recorded his arrest, and later took him to the state capital. Before that, the former Poonjar MLA was shifted to the Er nakulam General Hospital around 8pm after he complained of high blood pressure. After keeping him under observation for an hour from 8.15pm, he was discharged from the hospital, allowing the Fort police to take him to Thiruvananthapuram. The Janapaksham leader’s arrest came after the Thiruvananthapuram First Class Magistrate Court rejected the bail he was granted earlier for the hate speech against the Muslim community while addressing a programme organised as part of the Ananthapuri Hindu Maha Sammelan last ● More on P4 month.  SCHOOLS in state TO REOPEN ON JUNE 1 General Education Minister V Sivankutty said a total of 42.9 lakh students, 1.8 lakh teachers and close to 25,000 nonteaching staff are expected to reach schools on the reopening day. P4 Observing that funding is the backbone of any operation, including terror, and is among the gravest of offences, a special National Investigation Agency court on Wednesday awarded life imprisonment to separatist leader Yasin Malik in a 2017 case related to terror funding and secessionist activities in the Kashmir Valley . The sentence also aimed to “serve as deterrence for those who seek to follow a similar path,” special NIA judge Parveen Singh warned. In Srinagar, there was stray violence after the verdict. Malik’s family members and neighbours staged a protest in at Maisuma, which is where he hails from. The youth of the area, too, resorted to sloganeering and pelted stones on the security personnel, who fired tear gas shells to disperse them. All shops in Lal Chowk, Maisuma and downtown Srinagar remained shut with security forces stepping up vigil. Also, mobile internet was suspended in Kashmir as a precautionary measure. In his verdict, the judge said the prosecution had shown how funds were received from Pakistani establishments, Lakskar-e-Toiba founder Hafeez Saeed and through other hawala operations. “It is these funds that were used to create unrest where under the guise of public protests, paid terror activities of stone pelting and arson at mass scale were committed,” the verdict said. Malik had earlier pleaded guilty of all charges, including those under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, in the terror funding case. No reform, says judge “When he claimed to have given up the path of violence after the year 1994, the government...gave him an opportunity to reform, and in good faith, tried to engage in a meaningful dialogue with him, and as admitted by him, gave him every platform to express his opinion,” Special Judge Praveen Singh said. However, Malik did not desist from violence, he observed “In my considered opinion, it is high time that it is recognised that terror funding is one of the gravest offences and has to be punished more severely ,” the judge said. Malik was produced before the court amid high security, and awarded the life sentence, apart from a fine of `10 lakh. While the NIA sought capital punishment, the amicus curiae (friend of court) sought life imprisonment, the minimum punishment in the matter. On May 10, Yasin had said he would not contest charges levelled against him — Section 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy to commit terrorist act) and 20 (member of terrorist gang or organisation) of the UAPA and sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code. Survivor’s volte-face: Never blamed govt A N U K U R U VI L L A @Kochi In a U-turn, the survivor in the actor abduction and sexual assault case claimed on Wednesday that she had never said that the state government did not support her in her fight for justice. The turnaround came a day ahead of her scheduled meeting with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. “In the petition, I never said the government is not supporting me. The only concerns that I raised in my petition were regarding the fate of the investigation because all reports coming in the media said that the investigation has come to a standstill. That was the trigger for my worry and my petition ‘GOVT ALWAYS STANDS WITH SURVIVOR’ The state government on Wednesday told the High Court that it has been providing all support to the survivor 1 It’s everybody’s case that she should be rendered justice. There is no quarrel with that. The survivor has all along been taken into confidence T A Shaji, Director-General of Prosecution before the High Court,” the survivor told TNIE. However, this contradicts her statement in the petition, which came up for hearing on Monday that said “the government , of Kerala which gave support to the cause of the petitioner/ The state made the submission on a petition filed by the survivor alleging political interference in the case 2 victim at the initial stages, and allowed a fair investigation in the case by police officers of high integrity and took credit of the investigation politically has backtracked from its constitutional legal commitment of conducting a free, fair and complete investigation in the case.” The survivor is meeting the CM at the state secretariat on Thursday mor ning. Even though she refused to divulge the points she would discuss with Pinarayi, the survivor said “I’ll be raising my concerns on the path that the investigation is taking.” She said, “In the petition, I had sought further support from the government in completing the investigation. The present scenario is such that nothing is happening on the investigation side of the case. It has been said that the investigation has to be completed by May 31. But I am worried that it has come to a standstill.” Kerala tourism bounces back, domestic footfall close to pre-Covid days amthitta and Wayanad--- registered their all-time highest HAVING lain low for more than footfall in the January-March two years due to Covid, tourism period. has bounced back in the state. Tourism Minister P A MoThe sector attracted 38 lakh do- hamed Riyas told mediapermestic visitors in the first quar- sons that the latest figures inditer of 2022, which is just 9.44% cate that the state is set to short of the preattract a record DOMESTIC ARRIVAL pandemic figures. number of tourists Jan-March period Only 22 lakh dothis year. Globally mestic tourists had acclaimed assets, 2022 37.9 lakh visited the state new products and 2021 22 lakh during the correinitiatives like car% variation over 2021 sponding period in av a n t o u r i s m 2021, primarily owwould be added at72.48 ing to the tractions, he added. 2019 41.9 lakh pandemic. Tourism Secretary The sector has % variation over 2019 K S Srinivas and achieved the firstTourism Director -9.44 quarter growth of V R Krishna Teja 72.48% despite the were also present spread of the Omicron variant at the press meet. in January. During the first On the ambitious project to three months of 2019, when promote unexplored destinaCovid was unheard of, 41.9 lakh tions, Riyas said the governdomestic tourists had arrived ment will soon announce a in the state. ‘Destination Challenge’ initiaErnakulam district regis- tive in association with the lotered the highest domestic tour- cal self-government (LSG) deist footfall (8.11 lakh), followed partment to identify at least by Thiruvananthapuram (6 one destination under each civlakh) and Idukki (5.11 lakh). ic body. The LSGs will be the Five districts --- Idukki, Malap- main beneficiary of this ● More on P4 puram, Kasaragod, Pathan- project. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @T’Puram WELCOME PRESIDENT Governor Arif Mohammed Khan receives President Ram Nath Kovind, who reached the state on a two-day visit, at the Thiruvananthapuram airport on Wednesday. Transport Minister Antony Raju is also seen | Express No additional borrowing in FY23: Govt sources eted for `16.6 lakh crore borrowing accounting for a 6.4% THE Centre may not need ad- fiscal deficit in 2022-23. ditional borrowing in the curThe source added that the rent financial year (FY23) much-awaited GST rates raeven after taking a huge finan- tionalisation exercise will get cial hit from the excise duty delayed owing to the inflationcut on petrol and diesel and ary pressures. The GST Counthe newly announced cooking cil’s 47th meeting will be held gas subsidy for the in the second half of Coal-centric June. poor. According to sourc- energy policy However, despite es, the Centre will inflation continuousCoal will stick to the borrowly remaining above continue meet ing calendar set for the RBI’s upper tolerbulk of the FY23. The reduction power needs as it ance limit of 6%, in excise duties will there are no plans to is difficult to cause an annual loss make a transition revise the mediumof `1 lakh crore to to clean energy term inflation target t h e g o ve r n m e n t , (4% plus-minus 2). due to supply while the subsidy on constraints amid The source claricooking gas will put fied that the rupeegeopolitical an additional burden rouble trade mechatensions, of `61,000 a year. nism is very much on government “At the moment, it the table. “The Indian sources said doesn’t seem we need government will conextra capital. So, we will be tinue to buy cheaper oil from sticking to the borrowing cal- Russia. Talks on rupee-rouble endar fixed for FY23. If there trade are still going on with will be a shortfall in the capex, Russia. The Centre has not yet then we will withdraw the finalised the discount.” funds from the Consolidated Privatisation of two public Funds of India,” a govern- sector banks will be completment source said. ed in the current fiscal as part The government has budg- of disinvestment plans. M o n i ka Ya dav @ New Delhi express read 3rd money laundering case against Karti New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a money laundering case against Congress MP Karti Chidambaram and others in connection with the alleged irregularities in the issuance of visas to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011 when his father P Chidambaram was the Union home minister. Officials said the ED will probe the possible ‘proceeds of crime’. Sibal quits Cong, gets SP support for RS bid Lucknow/New Delhi: Veteran Congress leader Kapil Sibal said on Wednesday that he has resigned from the party as he filed his nomination as a Samajwadi Party-backed Independent candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls from Uttar Pradesh. A former union minister, Sibal, who is part of the G23, said he had resigned from the Congress party on May 16 | P7 Texas teen guns down 19 children in school E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e In one of the worst mass murders in a school in America, an 18-year-old in body armour gunned down 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas state on Wednesday. The dead students of the Robb Elementary School were aged between 7 years and 10 years, the police said. The massacre in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde in Texas, was the deadliest shooting at a US school since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, almost a decade ago. The teen opened fire around 11.30 am local time before he was killed by law enforcement officers. The assailant had turned 18 this month. Soon after, he bought his guns legally — one AR-style rifle from a li- A woman cries as she leaves the Uvalde Civic Center on Wednesday | AP censed gun dealer in Uvalde on May 17; 375 rounds of ammunition the next day; and a second rifle on May 20, officials said. The needless blood-letting brought the easy access to firearms in the US market to the front burner, since the powerful gun lobby has blocked all attempts check its proliferation. “Where in God’s name is our backbone to have the courage to deal with and stand up to the lobbies?’ President Joe Biden wondered. G ES T U RE T O W ARDS A I L I N G S O N Govt okays regn of dead duo’s 53-yr-old wedding E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @T’Puram ONLY when those in power address a deserving person’s grievance individually does democracy become more meaningful. The local-self government department came up with one such rare gesture when it decided to register a marriage that took place 53 years ago. Both the husband and the wife had passed away and the legal , registration is being done to help their mentally-challenged apply and avail of the family pension of the father, who had been a soldier. “The decision was based on the request by his only son who is mentally challenged. Sanction has been given to register the marriage,” Local Self-Government Minister M V Govindan said on Wednesday . The couple hailing from Sekhareepuram in Palakkad had tied the knot on June  4, 1969 at a local temple. Marriage registration was not mandatory back then. The wife died in 1998 and husband in 2015. The son’s request for a family pension was rejected as the military records did not have details of the kin of the deceased. The Kerala Registration of Marriages (Common) Rules, 2008, provides for registering a marriage even if one of the partners is dead. The law does not mention registering a marriage in which both the partners are dead. The minister had sought advice from the law department on the matter. The legal advice was in favour of ● More on P4 the applicant.