TWITTER BENGALURU  THURSDAY  MAY 26, 2022  `9.00  PAGES 20  LATE 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 MALIK GETS LIFE TERM FOR FUNDING TERROR IN J&K A N K I TA U PA D H YAY @ New Delhi 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. 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, Lashkare-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. “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 lev- Texas teen guns down 19 children in school JAB-O-METER TAKE YOUR SHOT May 24 11,38,116 doses May 25 11,30,219 doses TOTAL: 1,92,80,09,294 in another targeted attack, terrorists on Wednesday killed a woman TV artiste and injured her 10-year-old nephew in Chadoora in central Kashmir’s Budgam district. Around 7.55 pm, they shot dead TV artiste and singer Amreen Bhat at her home, the police said | P9 No reform, says judge Jailed Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik being escorted by police officers to a special court in New Delhi for sentencing on Wednesday | PARVEEN NEGI Minister Ashwath violated model code of conduct: Mandya ZP CEO report EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE 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 en- elled 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. The court rubbished Malik’s contention that he was following Gandhian principles of non-violence, saying despite large-scale of violence in the Valley he never condemned it. , In the Mahatma’s principles, there was no place for violence, howsoever high the objective, the judge said, adding: “It only took one small incident of violence at Chauri Chaura for the Mahatma to call off the entire non-cooperation movement but the convict despite the large scale of violence engulfing the Valley neither condemned the violence nor withdrew his calendar of protest which had led to the said violence.” The Gupkar Alliance called it unfortunate and a setback to peace efforts. It suggested that he avail of all legal opportunities to contest the verdict. P10 Woman TV artiste shot dead in Kashmir E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Mysuru A woman cries as she leaves the Uvalde Civic Center on Wednesday | AP forcement officers. The assailant had turned 18 this month. Soon after, he bought his guns legally — one AR-style rifle from a licensed gun dealer in Uvalde on May 17; 375 rounds of ammunition the next day; and a second rifle on P12 May 20, officials said. NATIONWIDE MAY 24 MAY 25 KARNATAKA MAY 24 MAY 25 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths 1,675 1,635 31 2,124 1,977 17 118 121 0 208 124 0 HIGHER Education Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan has been found guilty of violating the model code of conduct in a report submitted by Mandya Zilla Panchayat CEO Divya Prabhu. The ZP CEO has submitted the report to the Mandya Deputy Commisioner, Ashwathi. The report says that acting on a complaint filed by the Secretary of Mandya Congress Committee, who accused Ashwath of misusing his power by taking part in election-related activities in government educational institutions, a probe team visited several educational institutions and gathered evidence against the minister. “On May 16, the minister visited Mandya Institute of Medical Science, Government Women’s College, Mandavya Group of Institutions and PES College. As per the minister’s tour programme, it was not an official visit but the Taluk Panchayat described it as interaction with voters,” the report said. As per model code of conduct, no minister can combine official visits or tours with electioneering and cannot make use of official machinery or personnel for any poll-related work. The primary probe has found the minister guilty of violating the code of conduct, the ZP CEO said in the report. EXPRESS READ KMF creates record in milk procurement SpiceJet ransomware attack hits passengers at KIA hard ED books Karti in bribes-for-visas case Bengaluru: The Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) on May 24 created a record in milk production, sales and utilisation. KMF collected 91.07 lakh kgs of milk from the 15 district unions on a single day. Officials said this was the single highest procurement ever recorded on a day in the history of the organisation. Bengaluru: Ransomware attack on SpiceJet systems affected the arrival and departure of several flights to and from Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). Flyers across India were hit and had to wait for hours, many of them inside the flights. Flights at KIA were delayed from 5 am onwards. P2 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. P10 PRICEY SPIRITS COULD BE CHEAPER SOON A S H W I N I M S R I PA D @ Bengaluru IF everything goes well, expensive liquor in Karnataka will be cheaper. The State Excise Department is planning to reduce the price of expensive liquor after studying the price model in other states. With this, the Karnataka government is eyeing additional income hoping for an increase in sales. The revenue collection in 2021-22 was `26,276.83 cr against their target of Rs 24,580 crore. Chief Minister Basavar- aj Bommai in his budget announced the target to collect Rs 29,000 in 2022-23. Excise Minister K Gopaliah told The New Indian Express that they are considering reducing the price of expensive liquor in Karnataka. For this, they are forming five teams, each to visit different states including Maharashtra, Telangana, Kerala , Delhi and West Bengal, to study prices of expensive liquor and the excise duty slabs. “After the elections for the Members of Legislative Council in the first week of June, we will go and study We will . implement it here on a pilot basis,” he said. Sources from the Excise department said on an average D 75 cr revenue is collected per day in Karnataka. “In Karnataka, we have 18 different slabs, higher the price of liquor, higher the tax. As many as 85% of the revenue generation is from the first four lower slabs. CONTINUED ON: P4 In Karnataka, we have 18 different slabs, higher the price of liquor, higher the tax. As many as 85 per cent of the revenue generation is from the first four lower slabs" — A government source “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. Royal Patidar keeps RCB title hopes alive A S H I M S U N A M @ Bengaluru IN a team studded with stars like Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and others, it takes something out of this world for someone else to grab eyeballs when RCB win matches. A batter from Madhya Pradesh Rajat Patidar scored an unbeaten 54-ball 112, to help RCB beat Lucknow Super Giants by 14 runs at Eden Gardens. With it, RCB's dream of winning their maiden IPL title is truly alive. They will face Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2 in Ahmedabad on Friday However, this knock . of Patidar, who was originally unsold at the IPL auction, ranks right up there among the best ones ever seen in the Playoffs. The former Bangalore player was eventually snapped by the franchise as Luvnith Sisodia's injury replacement early April. With Dinesh Karthik’s 37, RCB reached 207/4. In re ply, Lucknow scored MORE ON P15 193/6. IISc faces probe over loss of green cover on campus B O S K Y K H A N N A @ Bengaluru INDIA’S reputed research organisation Indian Institute of Science (IISc), known for its achievements and accolades, is in the news for the wrong reasons this time. It has been served a notice by the Karnataka forest department over reports of loss of green cover and transportation of logs from its campus. Taking serious note of a series of events occurring on the IISc campus, the forest department has pulled up the ace institute for cutting trees allegedly without permission. It all started with a complaint from locals who noticed trees being cut in the campus and being transported in a truck CONTINUED ON: P2 from Yeshwanthpur exit gate.