KOZHIKODE l friday l February 03, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION 10 lakh govt jobs vacant across 78 ministries, depts “Filling up of vacancies is a continuous process,” Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in the Rajya Sabha Rozgar Melas to help job creation Railways has highest vacancies “Rozgar Mela events are being held across the country and new appointees are being inducted into various central ministries, departments, central public sector undertaking and autonomous bodies, among others,” the minister said in his written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, quoting data on vacancies from the annual Report of Department of Expenditure ■ ■ Railways has the highest number of vacancies at 2.93 lakh, followed by defence (civilian) at 2.64 lakh and home affairs (1.43 lakh) Singh added that a National Recruitment Agency has been constituted and has done a detailed study of recruitment systems at the Centre as well as states in order to adopt best practices 2,535 Vacancies in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions 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 Adani group under glare of banking, market regulators State budget today Revenue mobilisation key challenge What Finance Minister Must do: Experts’ take Finance minister should stop diversion of major share of annual borrowing for routine revenue expenditure Fiscal extravagance by 2 spending money in many areas has to end 1 Exposure of banks and trading transactions in the listed space under scanner; shares of flagship firms under surveillance; govt isn’t too worried as of now Oppn stalls Parliament, demands JPC or top court-monitored probe SAC H I N K U M A R @ Mumbai A day after Adani group was forced to withdraw its `20,000-crore follow-on public offering (FPO) of its flagship firm Adani Enterprises, banking and stockmarket regulators took note of allegations of irregularities against the conglomerate, while the National Stock Exchange (NSE) put group firms’ shares under surveillance. On Thursday, the Reserve Bank of India directed banks to provide details of their loans to Adani firms, the collateral used for these loans and any other indirect exposure. “The central bank wants to measure the total exposure of banks to the Adani group and if there is any risk to the banking sector,” said a senior official with a public-sector bank. One of RBI’s main concerns is that the firms take loans by pledging their shares, which pose risk to the lenders as a sharp fall in stock price could lower the value of shares. In all, the listed firms of the Adani group have lost as much as `8.76 lakh crore in market capitalisation in just six trading sessions. The finance ministry has not sounded any alarm yet on concerns related to group. A source in the North Block said that as long as the exposure of financial institutions is not high, the government will not be too worried about the Adani saga. Exposure of public-sector entities such as LIC and SBI is not high and the ministry does not comment on the performance of private entities, the source added. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is also looking into the allegations of irregularities levelled by Hindenburg Research against Adani group. The regulator is scanning all the transactions done by the group companies in the listed space. It is also checking whether the group failed to make any relevant disclosure required as per the regulations. Meanwhile, the NSE on Thursday placed Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports and Ambuja Cements under the Additional Surveillance Mechanism (ASM) framework, which will require 100% margin to trade in their shares. The ASM framework aims to protect retail investors from the sharp swings in the shares. The move is also expected to reduce speculaP10 tion and short selling.  Gautam Adani Value dips Citigroup said it has stopped accepting Adani group securities as collateral for giving out margin loans. Earlier, Credit Suisse assigned zero lending value to bonds issued by Adani firms BoJo’s bro quits firm Ex-British PM Boris Johnson’s brother Lord Jo Johnson quit as director of Elara Capital, one of the bookrunners of the scrapped Adani share sale BOTH Houses of Parliament on Thursday witnessed noisy scenes as the Opposition stalled proceedings demanding a Joint Parliament Committee (JPC) or a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into allegations of fraud and stock manipulation by Adani group. As soon as the session began, Opposition parties led by Congress raised slogans and demanded a discussion into the exposure of LIC and SBI to the Adani Group. Though several members gave adjournment notices under Rule 267, the presiding officers of both the Houses declined to accept the demand saying it was not in order. Both the Houses were adjourned later. Addressing a joint press conference by Opposition parties, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said there should be day-to-day reporting of the findings of the probe into investments by LIC, public sector banks and financial institutions, in which crores of Indians have put their life-time savings. Earlier in the day, leaders of several opposition parties including the Congress, DMK, TMC, SP, JD(U), Shiv Sena, CPI(M), CPI, NCP, IUML, NC, AAP and Kerala Congress had met in the Parliament complex to chalk out a joint strategy to corner the government on the Adani row. Echoing Kharge’s demand, SP Leader Ram Gopal Yadav said people are worried about their hard-earned savings in LIC and SBI. Voicing similar concerns, DMK MP Kanimozhi said: “We trust LIC and public banks because we believe that the government stands behind it. Today people feel cheated.” Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh said Opposition parties are together in demanding a probe on the Adani expose. Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena said: “It should be discussed widely why Adani was forced to withdraw its FPO. Arvind Kejriwal figures in second ED chargesheet in excise scam New Delhi: Revealing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s involvement in the excise scam for the first time, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in its second chargesheet claimed the CM had asked accused Sameer Mahendru to work with his close confidant Vijay Nair while formulating the new liquor policy. The chargesheet filed before a Special ED Court said Kejriwal had in a video call to Mahendru, the managing director of Indo Spirit, said Nair was his (CM’s) boy | P8 Pregnant woman, husband die as car catches fire in Kannur Free on Bail, finally Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan with his wife Raihana and son Muzammil after his release on bail from the Lucknow jail on Thursday. He was arrested 28 months ago while travelling to Hathras in UP where a Dalit woman died allegedly after being raped. “I am out after a lot of fight. I am happy,” he said | PTI ● More on P8 Kannur: A pregnant woman and her husband were charred to death after the car in which they were travelling caught fire near the district hospital in Kannur on Thursday morning. The deceased are T V Prajith, 35, and wife K Reesha, 26, of Kuttiattoor. Reesha’s father Viswanathan, mother Sobhana, daughter Sree Parvathi and cousin Sajana who were sitting in the rear seat escaped unhurt | P4 World Cancer Day: Feb 4 Kerala lacks treatment, research centres The number of new cancer cases in Kerala has been showing a disturbing trend. Data provided by 13 hospitals in the state, through cancer registries, reveal that 2,23,703 new cancer patients sought treatment in the eight years from 2012 to 2019. This significant number raises the question of the need for more infrastructure for cancer treatment and research in Kerala. Dr N K Sanil Kumar, a volunteer with the Justice Krishna Iyer Movement, said Kerala lacks enough treatment and research centres. While 60% of patients seek B A Prakash, economist 4 treatment in government hospitals, it is important to improve the facilities and infrastructure of cancer treatment and research centres in the state. “The Regional Cancer Centre in Thiruvananthapuram and Malabar Cancer Centre in Thalassery need more facilities. The infrastructure available is not sufficient to deal with such numbers. Also, we need more trained staff and experts to provide better treatment,” Dr Sanil said. Dr K Pavithran, a professor of medical oncology at Amrita Hospital, said the state needs more research institutes for studies in this area. “We cannot specify the reason for the increase in number of cancer cases in Kerala. Lifestyle plays a major role. Proper research in this area can help understand the cause for the spike in numbers,” said Dr Pavithran. He added that more recently there has been increased incidence of thyroid cancer among women. Though over 2.23 lakh cancer patients have sought treatment in the past eight years, there is no data on the total number of patients in the state. A study ‘The burden of cancers and their variations across the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study 1990–2016,’ found that the crude cancer incidence rate is highest in Kerala in 2016. As per the study 135 persons per , 1 lakh were affected by the disease in ● More on P4 2016 alone.  Govt must accept recommendations of CAG, State Finance Commissions and State Pay Revision Commission 3 Prof K P Kannan, ex-director CDS 4 Rationalise non-tax revenue system in proportion to rise in income Phase out off-budget borrowings to restore sanctity of government budgetary system The finance minister must improve efficiency in tax collection, and stop evasion Bring all traders under GST 2 regime. Slap heavy penalties on erring traders 1 3 Prof Mary George, economist Government should let go of unnecessary establishments, departments and PSUs FM should strengthen tax collection administration and enhance the ratio of state’s own revenue to its income Initiate measures to address 2 unemployment among educated youth, especially women 1 P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi The fundamentals of our company are strong... balance sheet is healthy and assets, robust. Our EBITDA levels and cash flows have been very strong. We have an impeccable track record of fulfilling debt obligations express read A N N A J OS E @Kochi 3 4 Impose monetary penalties for all offences. Increase fees for services at govt hospitals Make pay revision for government employees once in 10 years in line with all-India policy Expect tightrope walk by Balagopal R A J E S H A B R A H A M @Kochi F i na n c e M i n i s t e r K N Balagopal has a tough task ahead of him when he rises to present his second full budget on Friday but perhaps the big, gest challenge for him is to improve revenue mobilisations, stop tax evasions and tap new sources for non-tax revenues. Experts reckoned the budget to show robust growth in the tax and other revenue mobilisations on the back of a 12.01 % spike in GSDP in 2021-22 from minus 8.43% the previous year when the state economy was hit by the pandemic effects. Prof K P Kannan, former director and fellow, the Thiruvananthapuram-based Centre for Development Studies (CDS), said there was considerable scope for higher mop-up via non-tax revenues. “Kerala has one of the lowest non-tax revenues as a percentage of state income,” he pointed out, adding that he expects higher revenues and tax collections. According to Prof Mary Georg e, former chairperson of the Kerala Public Expenditure Review Committee, the tax GSDP ratio in Kerala was below 10% whereas it is between 30-45% in developed economies. “The FM must improve efficiency in tax collection and stop evasion,” she said, adding less than 15% of the state’s over 20 lakh shops and traders are registered with the Kerala government. “The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption wing of the government should conduct surprise checks on shops and fine them heavily,” she said. Prof Kannan said the budget should announce steps to phase out off-budget borrowings to restore the sanctity of the government budgetary system. Further, the FM should initiate measures for addressing the educated unemployment issue, especially for young women. Economist B A Prakash said Kerala was in an unprecedented fiscal crisis due to various reasons, including unfound fiscal policies, poor fiscal management, revision of salary and pension once every five years and the fiscal extravagance nature of spending in many areas. P2