kannur l tuesday l August 09, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION India to restrict entry-level Chinese smartphones: Report Chinese makers could be barred from selling phones cheaper than K12,000 in the Indian market, according to Bloomberg representative picture Move to help domestic brands Body blow to Xiaomi, others The proposed move is aimed at helping homegrown brands such as Lava and MicroMax and pushing Chinese giants out of the lower segment of the world’s second-biggest mobile market, the news agency reported. The development comes amid India’s tough stand against Chinese manufacturers and recent raids on OPPO, Vivo and Xiaomi ■ ■ Exclusion from India’s entry-level market would hurt brands like Xiaomi that rely heavily on India to drive growth Industry estimates say smartphones under I12,000 contributed to a third of India’s sales volume for the quarter through June, with Chinese brands accounting for 80% of those shipments 50% Estimated share of Xiaomi and realme in the sub K12k segment 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 Anti-Big Bang theory scientists face censorship by int’l journals BALA CHAUHA N @ Bengaluru Scientists from across the globe, including India, who are refuting the Big Bang theory on cosmology are facing resistance and censorship from journals and archives of international repute where they get their research papers published for peer review. The Big Bang theory holds that the universe was born out of a highly compressed, dense and microscopic point (called singularity), which exploded with a huge force some 13.8 billion years ago, resulting in everything arising from that singularity moving outwards in all directions. From this, all cosmic matter (as we know it today) was formed at different stages through time until now. Twenty-four astronomers and physicists from 10 countries including reputed astrophysicist Jayant V Narlikar of Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Prof Sisir Roy of National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) and Prof Amitabha What’s the Big-bang theory? According to a NASA explainer, the Big Bang theory indicates how the universe began — as just a single point, then expanded and stretched to grow as large as it is right now. It is still believed to be stretching Ghosh of Indian National Sci- cosmology and specifically on ence Academy (INSA) from In- the Big Bang hypothesis. Run dia are among the scientists by Cornell University arXiv is , protesting the censorsupposed to provide an ship of papers critical open public forum for of the Big Bang hypothresearchers to exesis, by the open prechange pre-publication print website arXiv. papers, without under“As scientists entaking to peer-review gaged in the study of them. the cosmos and the reBut during June Jayant V Narlikar lation of phenomena in 2022, arXiv rejected space to those on Earth, we three papers which are critical strongly protest arXiv’s censor- of the validity of the Big Bang ship of controversial papers on hypothesis .No specific reason was given,” the scientists wrote. Arindam Mal of the ISRO Ahmedabad and Sarbani Palit of the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata also faced difficulty in having their research paper Redshift Periodicity and its Significance for Recent Observation, which counters the Big Bang hypothesis – published in peer-reviewed journals like Astronomy and Astrophysics Journal, and Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . Guv gets even with govt, refuses assent letting 11 ordinances lapse New power bill reaches Lok Sabha, sent to panel Govt conveys resolve to replace them with legislation after convening special session in Oct The controversial Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which is expected to escalate Centrestate confrontation, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday and later sent to the Standing Committee on Energy for vetting. The bill mandates state electricity regulatory commissions (SERCs) to specify regulations to progressively reduce cross-subsidy, which is subsidising one set of customers at the cost of others. It requires SERCs to adhere to the National Electricity Tariff Policy while determining crosssubsidy . Subsidies will not be accounted for while fixing tariff; subsidies will be provided directly to consumers. The bill allows multiple distribution licences within the same area of supply No appli. cant who fulfils all the conditions can be refused a licence. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @T’Puram Apparently annoyed at moves to curtail his role as the Chancellor of universities, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has taken the state government to task for “ruling through ordinances”, and refused to give his assent for the re-promulgation of 11 ordinances that were set to lapse on Monday. Khan said he cannot endorse the ordinances without applying his mind on the matter and getting a proper explanation from the government. Caught off guard, the government attempted rapprochement conveying its resolve to replace all the ordinances with legislation after convening a special session of the assembly in October. Legal experts termed the situation as “unprecedented” as the Governor I cannot endorse the ordinances without applying my mind on the matter and getting a proper explanation from the state government Arif Mohammed Khan, Governor The government does not endorse ruling through ordinances. They are promulgated only in emergencies P Rajeeve, Law Minister neither gave his assent nor returned the ordinances, pushing the government to a tight spot. “Re-promulgation of the ordinances is out of the question as long as the Governor puts his decision on hold, as no time-frame is stipulated for arriving at a decision,” said a former law secretary . Restricted in other states June 2022: West Bengal passed a Bill making the chief minister the Chancellor of state universities, replacing the governor April 2022: Tamil Nadu passed two Bills that sought to transfer the power of the governor for appointing vice-chancellors December 2021: Maharashtra assembly passed a Bill to curtail the governor’s role in appointing vice-chancellors Law Minister P Rajeeve evaded a direct reply when asked about a way forward from the current crisis. Instead, he cited the precedent of convening a special session of the assembly to replace the ordinances with legislation and hinted that the government may adopt the same course for the 11 ordi- nances. “The government does not endorse ruling through ordinances,” he said, and added that it is promulgated only in emergency situations. Talking to reporters in Delhi earlier in the day Khan decried , the government’s practice of re-promulgating ordinances without getting them ratified by the state legislature. “Ruling through ordinance is not something that is desirable in a democracy. I will apply my mind and decide whether I will sign or not,” he said. He wondered why the state legislature is elected if the government wants to rule through ordinance. The ordinances that expired on Monday included one that intends to remove a potent provision from the Lokayukta Act to oust a corrupt public official and deter the offender from holding the ● More on P4 post again. Water from Idukki, One more infant dies in Attappadi, 6th this year Mullaperiyar dams floods downstream E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Palakkad One more infant from a tribal community in Attappadi died on Sunday night, one hour after it was born. This is the sixth such death from the tribal area in Attappadi this year. Doctors said the girl child of Shaji and Sajitha of Oothukuzhi in Sholayur was underweight. However, the exact reason of the newborn’s death remains unclear. Sajitha gave birth at Thrissur Medical College Hospital around 10pm on Sunday. The child died around 11pm. The last death of an infant from Attappadi was reported @Idukki/Kochi Low-lying areas in Vandiperiyar, Vallakadavu and Chappathu in Idukki were flooded after Tamil Nadu increased the discharge of water from Mullaperiyar dam to 7,354 cusecs from 5pm on Monday Several families liv. ing near the banks of the Cheruthoni river downstream were evacuated as water entered their homes. Following the rise in discharge from Mullaperiyar dam, the KSEB raised the spill from Idukki dam to 300 cumecs (roughly 10,594 cusecs). Authorities are planning to increase it to 500 cumecs from Tuesday as the dam is receiving an inflow of 7.37 million cubic metres (MCM) per three hours. Meanwhile, the continuous downpour in the high ranges of Idukki and Wayanad prompted KSEB and the irrigation department to start releasing water from more dams. Four shutters of Kakki dam and two of Pampa dam in Pathanamthitta and two spillway shutters of Banasurasagar dam in Wayanad were raised on Monday . The discharge of water from the dams was around 72, 50 and 17 cumecs, respectively . With water level in Idamalayar dam in Ernakulam reaching 83.57% of storage capacity, KSEB has decided to raise its spillway shutters around 10am on Tuesday. Around 50 to 100 cumecs of water from the dam will flow Bhoothathankettu dam where all 15 shutters are ● More on P4 open.  The deceased was the girl child of Shiju and Sumathi of Chittur. She died immediately after birth in June. The deceased was the girl born to couple Shiju and Sumathi of Chittur in the locality. She died immediately after her birth. Due to the rise in deaths of infants, Health Minister Veena George had visited Attappadi last year and enhanced the infrastructure at the Kottathara tribal specialty hospital. However, this has not prevented the deaths. It also provides for graded revision in tariff over a year besides mandatory fixing of maximum and minimum tariff by the appropriate commission. Introducing the Bill, Union power minister R K Singh called it “pro-people and for the growth of our economy” that would allow consumers to choose from multiple electricity distributors. But experts feel otherwise. According to the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), it would intrude into the powers and functions of the state gover nments, abolish subsidies and crosssubsidies and harm farmers and consumers alike. “It seeks to Centralise almost all functions of the DISCOMS as well as SERCs, thereby changing the entire character of the electricity supply industry and existing legislation as well as the federal structure,” said Shailendra Dubey chairman of AIPEF. , He also said the area of licence has not been clearly defined. Golden age for Sharath Bag of Golds It was a day of domination from the paddlers and shuttlers as India collected a handful of gold, finishing fourth in the medals tally He may be 40 years old, but Sharath Kamal is still relentless in his pursuit of excellence. He finds that extra motivation for age-defying feats and this time at the Commonwealth Games he has medalled in each event he entered — teams gold, men’s doubles silver, mixed-doubles gold crowned them with singles gold. This was his seventh gold; he won India’s first-ever table tennis gold in 2006 After demanding money impersonating bureaucrats by creating their fake WhatsApp accounts, cyber fraudsters have now targeted the chief minister of Kerala. The Kochi cyber police have registered a case against an unidentified person who created a fake WhatsApp account using the profile picture of CM Pinarayi Vijayan and sent messages to an IPS officer requesting money . The case was registered on the complaint of J Jayanath, who heads the coastal security department headquartered in Kochi. Sources said an FIR was registered on August 3. “The of- We have registered an FIR and attempts are being made to trace the number. It seems a group based in North India is behind the incident — A source ficer said he received a WhatsApp message from 8099506915 having the profile picture of Pinarayi Vijayan around 1.51pm on August 3. The person demanded money. We suspect more top police officials have received similar messages from fake WhatsApp accounts,” a source said. The case was registered under IPC Sections 419 (cheating by personation), 468 (forgery for cheating), and 471 (used forged document or electronic MONSOON session of Parliament ended four days ahead of schedule on Monday as both Houses were adjourned sine die. According to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, the session was supposed end on August 12 but was curtailed due to completion of essential government business and in view of two public holidays — Muharram on August 9 and Raksha Bandhan on August 11. However, the Opposition accused the government of running away from discussing bills and other important issues. The session witnessed repeated disruptions with the Opposition members aggressively raising the issues of inflation and the ED action, while the BJP vociferously protested Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s Rashtrapatni remark. A record number of Opposition 27 MPs were suspended — 23 from Rajya Sabha and 4 from Lok Sabha — for unruly behavour. The target was to pass 32 Bills, but the Lok Sabha could pass only seven and the Rajya Sabha five. Both the hockey men’s team and the women’s cricket team lost to Australia in their respective gold medal matches, finsihing with silver. While the Indian women lost late on Sunday night by nine runs, in hockey, the men were hammered 0-7 by the Australians on Monday Clean sweep in badminton PV Sindhu and young gun Lakshya Sen lived up to expectations by grabbing gold medals as India swept the singles badminton competition at the Commonwealth Games for the first time. Later in the day, Satwiksairaj Ranki Reddy and Chirag Shetty won gold in men’s doubles event express read CM’s fake account used to seek money from cop T o b y Ant o n y @Kochi E x p r ess N e ws Se r v i c e @New Delhi Silver in hockey & cricket top Target A man captures the night view of water being released from Cheruthoni dam after all five shutters were raised | Shiyami E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e previous death in June The last death of an infant from Attappadi was reported in June R a k e s h K u m a r @New Delhi Monsoon session ends 4 days early record as genuine), IT Act Sections 66C (dishonestly use an electronic signature, password or unique identification features) and 66D (cheating using any communication device or computer resource). The cyber police last month registered a case regarding a fake WhatsApp account created using the picture of IPS officer Sanjeeb Patjoshi. Last month, Kozhikode district collector Narasimhugari T L Reddy was also targ e t e d by c y b e r fraudsters who created his fake WhatsApp account. In March, a teacher in Kollam was duped of `14 lakh after she received a message from a fake WhatsApp account of state police chief Anil Kant. Jiyas Jamal, cyber law expert and founder of NGO Cyber Suraksha Foundation, said his team had alerted Health Minister Veena George whose fake WhatsApp account was created and messages were sent from it to several people. “In most cases, fraudsters use fake profiles of ministers and bureaucrats. This is happening as their phone numbers are available on the websites of government organisations. This is similar to impersonation that took place using Facebook accounts,” he said. Nitish set to lead new govt with RJD, Left? New Delhi: Bihar is all set to have a Maharashtra style coalition government comprising non-NDA parties, as CM Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) indicated it may snap ties with BJP. Sources said Nitish has spoken to interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, leaders of Left parties, besides RJD leaders Lalu Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav | P7 Int’l film fest to be held from December 9 to 16 T’Puram: The 27th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) will be held in Thiruvananthapuram from December 9 to 16, Cultural Affairs Minister V N Vasavan said in a statement on Monday. The festival is being held in December, as per the international festival calendar, after a gap of two years | P2