vijayawada l friday l june 24, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Citigroup raises global recession odds to 50% Supply shocks to add to economic woes Citigroup analysts’ warning comes in the wake of central banks around the world rushing to raise interest rates to arrest inflation Factory activity growth slows Recession is an “increasingly palpable risk” for the economy, the analysts said. “The global economy is flashing a number of yellow lights at present, which flow from the persistent supply shocks but also increasingly from central bank tightening and the effects of tighter financial conditions and higher inflation on the behaviour of consumers,” they added ■ ■ Citigroup’s bleak prognosis is shared by Deutsche Bank, which also feels the global economy may be headed for a recession Baring the cracks in the battered global economy, factory activity indices for June released on Thursday in Japan, Britain, the euro zone and US showed a sharp decline in growth 60 Central banks across the world have increased interest rates this year 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 CM inaugurates 3 units, lays stones for more; 20,000 jobs up for grabs E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Tirupati Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy inaugurated three companies and laid the foundation stones for as many others in Tirupati on Thursday . The firms, being set up with a total investment of nearly `4,000 crore, would create direct employment to 20,000 people. The companies inaugurated were TCL, Foxlinks and Sunny Opo. Of the companies, Hilltop SEZ Footwear India Limited (Apache) would invest `800 crore in its unit at Inagaluru village in Srikalahasti mandal and provide jobs to 10,000 people. TCL invested `1,230 crore, Foxlink `1,050 crore, and Sunny Opo `280 crore in their respective units set up at Electronic Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) at Vikruthamala near Tirupati, and would together employ nearly 6,500 people in the next one month. Another two companies, Foxlink India Limited and Dixon Technologies, which manufacture television units, would set up their units at costs of `300 crore and `110 crore, and provide direct employment to 1,200 and 850 people, respectively . Speaking after the groundbreaking ceremony at Inagaluru, Jagan said the company an , exclusive supplier of footwear to global brand Adidas, would invest about `800, crore creating direct employment for 10,000 people, and 80 per cent of t h e wo rk fo rc e wo u l d b e women. “The company will commence production in September 2023 -- that is in 15 months,” he said, and assured the government’s support. The chief minister recalled his father YS Rajasekhara Reddy facilitating Apache at Tada in 2006, where 15,000 employees -- 60 per cent of them women -have now been employed. “Apache has also set up a unit in Pulivedula that employs 2,000 women, and it will commence production in December this year, if not by March 2023,” he said. Earlier, the chief minister watered a sapling at the unit site, and unveiled the pylon. Industries Director Gummalla Srijana and Tony To, CEO of Apache India, signed the MoU. Tony explained about Apache’s journey in Andhra P4 Pradesh.  1 2 3 Anita Alvarez was saved coach saves by her coach at the World U.S. swimmer Aquatics Championships in nick of time in Budapest on Wednesday Unprecedented flooding in techie town of Assam P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @ Guwahati Four days ago, Amal Das called up his friend Prabal in Kolkata to inform he was standing in ankle-deep floodwaters. Amal was talking from his first floor home in Silchar town, now entirely submerged. Like him, thousands are stranded as the raging river Barak has submerged not just this entire town in southern Assam’s Cachar district but the whole river valley . Silchar is incommunicado and without transport as 5-12 feet waves lash the streets. Locals say this is unprecedented. Pregnant women and children are the worst sufferers. The town is without power and water supply. Hand pumps, wells, borewells, shops and commercial establishments are all inundated. Batteries of mobile phones have drained out and there is no Internet. Silichar takes pride in producing hundreds of techies — many of them settled abroad. As it is now in the throes of an acute shortage of essentials, the state government began air-dropping food packets, bottles of drinking water and other essentials. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who conducted an aerial survey of the district, of which Silchar is the headquarters, said the government would continue air-droppings for the marooned, apart regular relief. Assam’s Transport Minister Parimal Suklabaidya told this newspaper, “I am at chest-deep water now. Some 4,000 transformers in the district are under water. The flood has made life hell. The administration is providing relief.” women voters, and 208 postal ballots, officials said. In 2019, as many As many as 64.27 per cent of the as 1,72,288 voters had exercised 2.11 lakh electorate in Atmakur As- their franchise. Political pundits atsembly constituency exercised tributed the low turnout to TDP’s their right to franchise in the by- decision against fielding its candielection held on Thursday . date. The TDP decided against conThe polling was peacetesting the poll in accordful, barring stray inciance with its policy not BJP agent dents of heated argu- ‘kidnapped’ and to challenge the kin of m e n t s b e t we e n t h e any deceased MLA in the ‘rescued’ agents of the main conbypoll. Choas prevailed at tenders, the YSRC and The polling comBJP. The votes would be Krishnapuram where menced at 7 am, and in a BJP agent was taken up for counting at the first two hours, and Atmakur Engineering allegedly kidnapped on an average, 11.56 per by the ruling party. College in Nellorepalem cent of votes were polled BJP candidate G on June 26, Sunday   . in all 279 polling stations. Bharat Kumar saw The voter turnout was Short queues were seen the agent, Vishnu, poor compared to the at most polling stations 2019 general elections being taken away at in Atmakur town and Timmanaidupet when 82.44 per cent of also in rural areas by 10 the electorate had cast am. The polling percenttheir votes. The bypoll was neces- age increased to 24.92 per cent by 11 sitated following the demise of the am, and by 1 pm, around 44.14 per sitting YSRC MLA and former min- cent voters had cast their votes. It ister, Mekapati Goutham Reddy, in increased to 54.66 per cent by 3 pm. February . With just one hour left at 5 pm, 61.70 The total number of votes polled per cent of voters had turned up at P5 were 1,36,905, including 69,397 of the stations. E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Nellore BRICS harps on sovereignty and territorial integrity E x p r e ss N e ws S e r v i c e @ New Delhi Respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all States, supporting talks between Russia and Ukraine and warning against using Afghan territory to shelter or train terrorists were some of the highlights of the 14th BRICS Summit Declaration issued on Thursday . The two-day Summit, being hosted by China, saw Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping criticising the West for imposing unilateral sanctions on Moscow, which in turn impacted the world economy at large. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said mutual cooperation can make a useful contribution to the global post-Covid recovery . Meanwhile, in the backdrop of several Wester n brands shutting their outlets in Russia, Putin said Russia is in talks with India to set up stores all over the country . BRICS comprises five of the world’s largest developing countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This year’s summit is being held amid border tensions between India and China continuing unresolved and Russia being isolated globally over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. e x p r e ss r e a d Nursing student kidnap case: NIA arrests three Hyderabad/Vizag: The NIA carried out search operations in Ranga Reddy, Medak and Secunderabad and arrested three accused— Dongari Devendra, Dubasi Swapna and Chukka Shilpa—in connection with the missing and kidnap of a nursing student, who was reportedly brainwashed to join the CPI (Maoist). The case was registered based on a plaint by the student’s mother, Pochamma | P4 conflict of interest ‘Rangu rallu’ hunters’ tryst with luck tramples sprouting hopes of farmers K M a d h u S u d h a k a r @ Kurnool The annual hunt for ‘rangu rallu’ (coloured stones) in Tuggali mandal of Kurnool district might fetch a bounty for the lucky ones, but for the farmers in the region, the hunt is proving to be a bane. With hundreds of people from all over the district, and even from Karnataka, trampling their fields every year at a time when their crop is germinating, the farmers, this year, have vowed not to let treasure hunters ruin their crop. Armed with sticks, farmers have formed groups and are driving away treasure hunters from the fields. Anticipating trouble, police have also started counselling the hunters not to venture into fields and create problems for the farmers. Several farmers in the villages 5  The US synchronised swimmer sinks to the bottom during her routine in the solo free artistic final  Coach Andrea Fuentes, sensing what has happened, swims to check After grabbing hold of Anita, her coach pulls her to the surface  Another member of Team US dives into the pool to provide support  After lifting her out of water, attempts are made to revive Anita. She has since recovered and is expected to compete on Friday despite her history of fainting at competitions | AFP Atmakur bypoll peaceful, voter turnout dips to 64% CM Jagan Mohan Reddy at the ground-breaking ceremony of Apache’s unit at Inagaluru village in Srikalahasti constituency on Thursday I Express 4 Farmers in Tuggali, Chippagiri & Maddikera mandals have put up boards urging treasure hunters not to dig their fields | EXPRESS of Tuggali, Chippagiri and Maddikera mandals, where the diamond hunt began after the first rains of the season, have put up request boards urging the treasure hunters not to dig their fields as it would damage their crops. For the last couple of weeks, the villagers have been looking after their fields round-the-clock and formed groups to prevent the treasure hunters from trespassing into their farm lands. Every year treasure hunters dig the soil in nearly 15,000 hectares of ag riculture fields to find diamonds. Crops like ground nut, red gram, cotton, tomato, millets are cultivated in the region and currently , these crops are in the germination stage. The villagers are leaving no stone unturned and are even making announcements in villages like Jonnagiri, Pagidirai, Peravali urging the treasure hunters against entering into the region. They have also warned the trespassers of punishments. Some far mers, ar med with sticks, stay awake all night to keep a watch on treasure hunting in P4 their farm land.  June 22 30,20,119 doses June 23 11,98,992 doses Total: 1,96,75,59,671 Jab-o-meter Take your shot NATIONWIDE June 22 June 23 Fresh cases 12,249 13,313 Recoveries Deaths 9,862 10,972 13 38 eu grants ukraine candidate status The bloc’s 27 member states agree to accord candidate status to war-torn country, on Thursday, at an EU Council summit Shinde has 37. Prove it on floor of House: Pawar Sena seeks disqualification of 12 MLAs to pressure them; rebel count keeps swelling S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai With rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde showcasing the support of 37 party MLAs in a group photo-op at a Guwahati hotel on Thursday he appeared , to have the numbers to escape the anti-defection law. Also seen in the group photo were nine Independent MLAs. But NCP chief Sharad Pawar rallied around beleaguered Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray saying numerical strength , can only be proved in a trust vote on the floor of the Assembly He blamed the BJP for engi. neering it, citing Shinde’s claim that it had assured all support. With the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition making hectic efforts to draw the rebels back home, Sena leader Sanjay Raut sought to dangle a carrot by claiming the party was prepared to concede their demand to step out the alliance if all of them return within 24 hours and meet Uddhav. Parallelly the Sena was said , to have asked the Deputy Speaker to take action against those MLAs who did not attend the legislature party meeting. For their part, the rebels said, “we do not want a change in party president; we want the unatural Aghadi alliance to go and a new a government with the BJP for various reasons. (a) We want harassment by central enforcement agencies to stop. (b) NCP is our real political opponent on the ground. Whenever fresh Assembly elections are held, NCP and Congress cannot be expected to transfer votes to Shiv Sena because they have been our traditional foes. However, when BJP was the ally, the transfer of votes was smooth. (c) BJP is a big party, so keeping it in good humour is smart politics.” Twists and turns  Sanjay Raut claims Sena open to considering quitting Aghadi if rebels return in 24 hours  NCP, Cong downplay Raut’s remark, vow to support Uddhav govt  Pawar blames BJP for the crisis  But Dy CM Ajit Pawar says he does not see any BJP role in the rebellion But Raut said those afraid of CBI, ED or income tax raids are not hardcore Shiv Sainiks. As for Shinde, his support group appears to be swelling. When he had initially shepharded them to Surat, his MLA count was 20. It went up to 22 by the time he flew out of Surat to Guwahati, where more joined in. On Thursday, four other Sena MLAs entered his camp, P8 taking his score to 37.