kozhikode l tuesday l november 22, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION New norms to curb fake, paid reviews on Amazon, Flipkart E-commerce platforms will now have to disclose all paid consumer reviews of products and services on their sites Compliance will be VOLUNTARY INITIALLY New Standards to protect consumers The Department of Consumer Affairs on Monday launched a framework titled ‘Indian Standard (IS) 19000:2022 ‘Online Consumer Reviews — Principles and Requirements for their Collection, Moderation and Publication’. Initially, the standards will be voluntary for compliance by e-commerce firms but may be made mandatory if the menace continues Online reviews play a vital role in making purchase decisions on e-commerce platforms and, therefore, reviews should be legitimate, accurate and not misleading, said Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh. “We are probably the first country in the world to formulate standards for online reviews,” he added ■ IS 19000:2022 WILL BE applicable to EVERY platform THAT publishES consumer reviews 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 England hit Iran for six heating up First Rahul-Modi sparring match on Guj poll turf The 2020 Euro finalists have started their World Cup campaign with a massive 6-2 win over Iran Cong leader takes break from Bharat Jodo Yatra, reaches out to tribals in his first rally have been thrown out of power by the people are now taking out a padyatra to return to Campaigning for the Decem- power. ber 1 first phase of Gujarat As“Some people are doing a sembly elections became spicy padyatra to get back to power. on Monday with Congress lead- They are also taking along er Rahul Gandhi adthose who had stalled dressing his first poll the Nar mada dam rally in the state, and project for 40 years Prime Minister Narenthrough litigation and dra Modi mocking kept Gujarat thirsty. him over his Bharat In this election, people Jodo Yatra. of Gujarat will punish At a rally Rahul adthose who were dressed in Mahuva in against the Narmada Surat district after project,” he said, alThere was a time taking a break from luding to anti-dam acwhen there was the yatra, he sought to tivist Medha Patkar acute water strengthen his party’s joining Rahul’s yatra traditional bond with shortage. I had said in Maharashtra a few Surendranagar tribals in Gujarat, say- district will be the days ago. ing they have the first biggest beneficiary He went on to attack right to land and forthe Congress claiming of the Narmada est resources across it does not talk about project. Today, I stand validated the country . development during Criticising the term elections any longer. Vanavasi used by the “Instead, Congress BJP to describe the leaders are saying tribals, Rahul alleged they will show Modi that the real intention his aukat (status). behind using this term Just look at their arrois to keep the tribal gance. They do belong population in the forto a royal family while , ests, far away from I am merely a servant modern education and having no aukat,” They want you to health facilities. PointModi quipped. ing out that the Adiva- live in the jungles. At Rahul’s rally, After that, they sis are real owners of Bharatsinh, son of the land and forests in start taking away former Congress heavthe jungles from India, he went on to al- you. If it continues, yweight Madhavsinh lege that the current in another 5-10 yrs, Solanki, attempted a dispensation at the all the jungles will live translation of his Centre wants strip the be in the hands of 2 speech in Hindi into tribals off their land to 3 industrialists Gujarati but made a and give them away to hash of it. The crowd a few industrialists. cheered as Bharatsinh was takAs for Modi, he took pot shots en off midway by candidate at Rahul without naming him Anant Patel. Rahul went on at a public meeting in Suren- speaking in Hindi much to the dranagar, saying those who relief of the gathering. D i l i p S i n g h K s h at r i ya @ Ahmedabad England’s Bukayo Saka (L) celebrates scoring his team’s second against Iran on Monday | afp | P11 ‘yogic philosophy’ at World Cup S N e e ra j K r i s h na @Kochi Chosen as the wellness coach of the Belgian national team, Indian mind strategist Vinay Menon has taken “yogic philosophy” to the global stage at Qatar 2022. It may come as a surprise to many , the Malayali wellness guru — the only Indian officially associated with the FIFA World Cup in Qatar — has been playing a vital role in “tuning the minds and bodies” of Belgian p l aye r s fo r “ p e a k performance.” Sports can be mentally taxing. Devastating, at times. “I felt myself dying inside,” the pony-tailed Italian striker Roberto Baggio recalled years after his excruciating penalty shootout miss in the 1994 World Cup final against Brazil at Rose Bowl, US. “It is a wound that never closes. It haunts me. I still dream about it.” More recently in March, French , Slowdown coming, warn Goldman Sachs, Crisil e XP R E S S nEW S s e R VICE @ New Delhi WHILE India has so far managed to steer clear of the heat of the global slowdown, rating agencies feel the coming year will be different, as they continue to cut the country’s GDP growth projection for 2023. In the latest round of revisions, Goldman Sachs, Crisil and Icra have slashed India’s growth prospects. While Goldman Sachs has cut India’s growth projection to 5.9% in 2023 from 6.9% growth this year, Crisil revised India’s FY23 growth forecast to 7% from 7.3% projected earlier. Icra halved the FY23 second quarter growth estimate to 6.5%. “We expect growth to be a tale of two halves in 2023, with a slowdown in the first half,” Santanu Sengupta, India economist at Goldman Sachs, said in a note on Sunday “In the sec. ond half, we expect growth to re-accelerate as global growth recovers, the net export drag declines, and investment cycle picks up,” he said. Crisil, which sees GDP growth further slowing down to 6% in fiscal 2024, cited the slowdown in global growth that has started impacting India’s exports and industrial activity . FIFA says no to OneLove armbands Just hours before the first match on Monday, players wearing armbands in support of the “OneLove” campaign were set to take the field, FIFA warned they would be shown yellow cards — two of which lead to a player’s expulsion from that game and also the next. midfielder Paul Pogba revealed he had been through depression “several times”. “In football it is not acceptable, but we are not superheroes, we are only human beings,” he added. “If you are not shielded mentally you are dead in , this sport.” That’s where the wellness coach e n t e r s, s ay s Vi n ay. “Though football is a team sport, each player carries the immense load of expectations of fans, of a whole nation, on his shoulders. On top of that, of course, there are family priorities, social media pressure, etc.” An expert in “advanced mind reprogramming strategy”, Vinay says he individually focuses on each player to help them put forward optimal performance as a team. And one of his thrust areas is to “negate the fear of failure from the minds of every team ● More on P4 member.”  Many kids 10 km, Shallow but deadly tremors Jakarta 5.6-magnitude earthquake in Indonesia kills at least 162, most of them children. Over 320 others injured; epicentre in Cianjur area the US Geological Survey said Group C: Argentina vs Saudi Arabia, 3.30 PM, Mexico vs Poland, 9.30 PM Group D: Denmark vs Tunisia, 6.30 PM, France vs Australia 12.30 AM on Wednesday Bogor among 162 killed in Java quake Occurred at a shallow depth of Today’s matches Most of the victims died in collapsed buildings Indonesia Cianjur Bandung Thousands of houses, shops, hospitals and a school in the town severely damaged West Java Toll expected to rise as more people are still trapped in collapsed buildings. Access to them cut off due to landslides Many of the dead were public school students who had finished their classes and were taking extra lessons at Islamic schools Cianjur is densely populated and prone to landslides. Its poorly built houses were reduced to rubble in many areas No reports of casualties or major damage in Jakarta Indonesia is prone to high seismic activity due to its position on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates collide Survivors receive treatment outside a local hospital following an earthquake in West Java on Monday | AP Bali, the venue of the recent G20 summit, was unaffected | P9 Communal harmony Muslims unite to revive 600-yr-old Siva temple M A R a j e e v K u mar @Kannur In yet another example of communal harmony in the state, the Muslim community in Chengalayi panchayat has extended support to revive a 600-year-old Lord Siva temple, which is nearly in ruins, at Therlayi Island. The Lavil Siva Temple has been in a dilapidated state for years with those managing the temple struggling to find enough resources to even conduct daily rituals. “Not many devotees come to the temple regularly said V M ,” Gireesh, executive officer of the temple. Only three of the 140 families inhabiting the island are Hindus. The rest are Muslims. “To generate revenue, devotees from outside the island need to visit the place. So, we are planning to include the The temple revival committee members in front of Lavil Lord Siva temple in Kannur temple in the tourism development package of Irikkur constituency said V M Mohanan, ,” Cheng alayi panchayat president. “The six-century-old temple has to be revived. Once the place is included in the tourism project, its condition will improve,” he said. Gireesh said paucity of funds is the major issue. “We need around Rs 25-30 lakh for giving the temple a facelift,” he said. When the Muslim families heard of the revival attempt, they extended their whole● More on P4 hearted support.  Don’t raise Tharoor issue in public: Cong E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Kozhikode/Kannur Senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan came out in support of Shashi Tharoor on Monday alleging “conspir, acy by those eyeing the chief minsiter post” behind the Youth Congress’ decision to drop the seminar which was scheduled to be addresed by the Thiruvananthapuram MP Within hours, state . Congress president K Sudhakaran put a gag on party leaders and workers from raising the issue in public. Meanwhile, the former UN diplomat’s trusted lieutenant M K Raghavan asserted that Tharoor alone can bring about a change in the Congress as desired by ordinary party workers. Talking to reporters in Kozhikode, Muraleedharan said, “Everything related to what happened here is known to me. The DCC president has communicated everything to me.” He said Tharoor’s function was not a sectarian move, but a fight against the Sangh Parivar. The DCC was intimated about the seminar well in advance by Raghavan. Muraleedharan said he will not blame the Youth Congress district president for withdrawing from the programme because he was under immense pressure. “I know the names of those behind it, but it is improper to discuss such matters on public platforms. Anyway, KPCC president has said that there is no ban on Tharoor’s programmes and it’s the final word in the par● More on P4, 7 ty he added.  ,” ‘Tharoor alone can return Cong to winning ways’ | p4 SC refuses to stay fiat on Kufos V-C posting S h r u t i K akkar @NewDelhi The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice on a petition filed by K Riji John challenging the Kerala High Court’s ruling setting aside his appointment as the vice-chancellor of the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (Kufos). A bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli, however, refused to stay the HC’s judgment and posted the matter for hearing after two weeks. “If you succeed, you will be reinstated,” the CJI remarked. Riji had moved the SC against the HC’s November 14 ruling that had set aside his appointment on the ground that it was done in violation of the UGC Regulations, 2018. An HC bench comprising Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly had said that taking into consideration the law, they had “no hesitation” to hold that the selection of Riji as the V-C of Kufos, overlooking the UGC Regulations “cannot be sustained under law.” “We are also of the view that the search-cum-selection committee constituted is also in violation of the UGC Regulations,” the HC had said, directing the chancellor to constitute a new committee for recommend a panel of names for the post as per UGC regulations at the earliest. Senior advocate Jaideep Gupta appeared for Riji and senior advocate K K Venugopal represented Kerala. express read Did seek staff M’luru blast: Kerala regularisation: Guv ATS launches probe T’Puram: In a climbdown, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Monday admitted that he had written a letter to the state government seeking regularisation of temporary workers at Raj Bhavan. On Sunday, he had rejected sending any such letter | P5 Kochi: The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Kerala Police has started a probe into the activities of Mangaluru blast suspect during his stay in Aluva in September. The probe will check whether Mohammed Shariq carried out any activity affecting the state’s internal security | P5