vijayawada l thursday l december 8, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION World Bank report warns of unsurvivable heat wave Extreme climate events rising in India The World Bank report titled ‘Climate Investment Opportunities in India’s Cooling Sector’ said severe heat waves, responsible for thousands of deaths across India over the past few decades, are increasing with alarming frequency. It said the country could become one of the first places in the world to experience such extreme climate events that can be fatal India could soon experience heat waves that break human survivability limit, the World Bank said in its latest report 380 mn depend on heat-exposed labour “Up to 75 per cent of India’s workforce, or 380 million people, depend on heat-exposed labour, at times working in potentially life-threatening temperatures,” the report said. India has the largest heat exposure impacts on heavy labour among South Asian countries, losing 101 billion hours a year, the report added 34 million Projected job loss in India by 2030 due to heat-linked productivity dip 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 Jagan seeks to push back TDP with an impassioned plea at BC Mahasabha E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Asserting his commitment to social justice, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday urged the backward classes (BCs) to rally behind him, going by his governm e n t ’s t r a c k r e c o r d i n empowering them socially eco, nomically and politically. Not just that, Jagan urged them to make 2024 elections the last for TDP and its chief N Chandrababu Naidu. Listing measures taken by his government not only for their welfare, but also their political uplift, the YSRC chief made a lengthy, impassioned plea, terming the BCs, not backward, but the backbone of his party and the State at large, in a clear and focused effort at consolidating their support. He was addressing the ‘Jayaho BC Mahasabha’ held at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Stadium here to which, more than 82,000 leaders from the BCs, right from ward members to Cabinet ministers and MPs, attended. The Mahasabha is BCs don’t just have a place in the Budget, but have a special place in my heart. Everything in our household, whether it is a plate that we eat from, or a lamp we light, all of it is made by our BCs. My heart, wish and strength are BCs and their welfare — YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, CM Prasant Madugula AAP wins Delhi municipal corpn, ends 15-yr BJP rule S h r u t i K a kk a r @ New Delhi gender break-up of councillors 69 49 AAP BJP 02 05 Others Cong 250 Total wards AAP 1 3 4 7.18% 11.68% BJP 1 0 4 Con g 9 Men Others 3 42.05% Others 65 55 01 AAP BJP Others 04 Cong AAP 39.09% Vote share BJP Congress Mayor watch Finally, what AAP thought happened, not in the exact measure, but in its historical proportion. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party ended the BJP’s 15-year rule over the MCD, bagging 134 of the 250 seats, forcing the BJP to settle at 104 and Congress at a distant 9 seats. For AAP, it is a wish fulfilled: it now rules Delhi and the civic body whose unification from three separate bodies a few months back was thought to be a pro-BJP move. On Wednesday the BJP could draw , solace from a fragile fact: it has fared better than what was projected by exit polls. The results humiliated the Congress as it won only nine seats and, worse, 188 of its 247 candidates lost their deposits. An element of history joined AAP’s win. It is for the first time that the AAP has managed to wrest power from the BJP in any of the battles of the ballot since the party’s birth a decade ago. AAP has won two other elections — the Delhi Assembly (2015 & 2019) and Punjab (2022). In all these polls, AAP swept the Congress off, while it faced defeat in BJP-ruled states like Uttarakhand, Goa and Uttar Pradesh. In Delhi, AAP singularly targeted the city’s ever-rising three landfill sites, promising to remove the muck and squalor from Delhi’s midst. The BJP got back at AAP by selectively leaking video clips on the so-called corruption cases, including the Delhi excise scam. figures that matter Tenure of MCD mayor is 1 year Rules mandate that the first mayor is a woman while the third mayor has to be from the reserved category In the previous elections, the BJP had trounced both the AAP and the Congress by winning 181 of 272 wards of the three municipal corporations. Kejriwal termed the “decisive victory” to be an affirmation for his party’s honest politics. “People of Delhi have now entrusted their son to clean Delhi and rid MCD of cor- Women AAP may field SC woman councillor for mayor If she wins, she’ll have tenure of about four months as new mayor is sworn in every April ruption. I won’t let them down,” he said at the AAP headquarters. Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said the people have given them almost 40% vote share along with 104 wards and responsibility as a strong opposition. As for the dispirited Congress, it claimed that the people have rejected the BJP . Cost of living set to go up as RBI raises rate M O N I K A YADAV @ New Delhi Manned space mission timed for LS polls K ARTHI K K K @ Mysuru INDIA’s maiden manned space mission, Gaganyaan-1, is likely to be scheduled in 2024, just before the Lok Sabha elections, sources told this newspaper. “There have been instructions from the Union government that although the Covid disruption forced delays in the project timeline, we have to try and complete the tests in 2023 so that the project is launched in 2024 before the Lok Sabha polls,” a senior scientist said. The original launch schedule was December 2020, but ISRO had to change the dates following the pandemic. Now, with preparations in full swing, the two major tests — Test Vehicle Demonstrations (TV-D1 and TV-D2) — are expected in Feb P8 2023 and Dec 2023.  YOUR cost of living has just gone up. And, it will continue to stay that way for quite some time, going by the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy statement released on Wednesday According to RBI, the common . man will continue to bear the brunt of price rise and high interest rates as the central bank’s fight against inflation is not over yet. Seeking to cool inflation, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday announced a 35 basis points increase in the benchmark interest rate. This, however, will trigger another round of hike in’ lending rates. Banks are expected to raise interest rates of home loans and other loans linked to the repo rate (at which RBI lends to banks). Home loan rates are already at 9% or more. The burden on existing home loan borrowers could go up by `950-1,200 per EMI for an outstanding loan of `50 lakh with a tenure of 10-25 years. Loans will become even costlier in the coming months as RBI has dropped enough hints that the rate hikes are far from over. Experts see another 25 bps rate hike in the next revision. Realtors say any further hike could derail the recovery in the property market as it will make the affordable housing segment unaffordable. On the bright side, there is hope for savers as banks are likely to raise deposit rates. Inflation will, however, continue to pinch the common man as RBI has retained its inflation target for FY23 at 6.7%, with Q3 inflation at 6.6% and Q4 inflation at 5.9%, which is still higher than its upper tolerance level of 6%. Considering that high inflation and interest rates are weighing the economy down, RBI has cut its FY23 GDP growth forecast to 6.8% from its earlier projection of 7%. The above factors, coupled with fears of a deepening global slowdown, portend uncertain days for the common P10 man.  WHAT THE REPO RATE HIKE MEANS If you have taken a loan, or are planning to take one, you may have to shell out more as banks are likely to raise interest rates government had done for the BCs and contrasted it with Naidu’s contribution during the latter’s tenure in power. He advised each one of the BC leaders present at the meeting to start a door-to-door campaign at the ground level. The party leaders are already on the “Gadapa Gadapa ku Mana Prabhutvam” programme to gain feedback on the government’s schemes. In maiden speech, Dhankar raps SC for NJAC verdict Wins 134 wards, saffron party manages 104; Congress reduced to single digit U j w a l J a l a l i @ New Delhi significant politically as BCs are seen as the main support base of the TDP. No wonder, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu was quick to tweet that “BCs are in the TDP’s DNA, and they are its heartbeat”. Jagan explained what his Interest rates on bank deposits expected to rise Experts feel real estate sector is among the most hit as higher home loan rates could put off potential buyers In his first speech as chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankar on Wednesday took on the Supreme Court, describing its 2015 verdict that struck down the National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) bill as a glaring instance of severe compromise of parliamentary sovereignty and disregard of people’s mandate. Dhankar said there is no parallel in democratic history where a legitimate Constitutional prescription was judicially undone. He underscored Parliament’s position as the exclusive and the ultimate determinative of the architecture of the Constitution. “Hon’ble members, there is no parallel to such a development in democratic history where a duly legitimised Constitutional prescription has been judicially undone. It’s a glaring instance of severe compromise of Parliamentary sovereignty,” the V-P said. He pointed out that the NJAC bill had received unprecedented bipartisan support but was quashed on the ground that it was not in sync with the basic structure of the Constitution. Calling Parliament the custodian of the “ordainment of the people”, the Vice-President also said it was duty bound to address the issue and expressed confidence that it would P8 do so.  cyclone threat Heavy rains likely over next 3 days E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Tirupati The deep depression in the Bay of Bengal intensified into a cyclonic storm on Wednesday and is headed towards south Andhra Pradesh and north Tamil Nadu-Puducherry in 24 hours. The cyclone, christened Mandous, is likely to impact four districts in the State in the next three days. According to the IMD, Prakasam, Nellore, Tirupati and Kadapa will receive moderate rainfall on Thursday The four . districts are expected to receive heavy rainfall on December 9 and 10. The IMD said the cyclone may continue to move west-northeastwards towards North Tamil Nadu-Puducherry and adjoining South Andhra Pradesh coasts. Under its influence, Tirupati, Chittoor, Nellore, Kadapa, Annamayya, Prakasam and some areas in Bapatla, Krishna, and West Godavari districts and also a few places in Rayalaseema will receive moderate rainfall. The district administrations of Nellore, Tirupati and Chittoor have sounded an alert.