thrissur l Sunday l october 01, 2023 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l city edition RBI EXTENDS DEADLINE TO RETURN K2,000 bank NOTES TO oCTOBER 7 The Reserve Bank on Saturday extended the special drive to withdraw K2,000 bank notes from the system by another week, till October 7 96% of the notes have already COME BACK K2,000 note to remain legal tender The central bank said ever since it announced the decision to withdraw D2,000 notes on May 19, D3.42 lakh crore of such notes have been received into the system. That works out to 96% of the D2,000 bank notes that were in circulation, the RBI said. The earlier deadline to return was Sept 30. The RBI stopped printing D2,000 notes in financial year 2019 ■ ■ The RBI said the D2,000 currency notes shall continue to be legal tender even beyond October 7, but asked the public to deposit or exchange then without any further delay From October 8, the notes can’t be exchanged at banks. People have to visit one of the 19 offices of RBI to get it done, the statement said A20,000 per transaction cap does not apply for depositing in RBI 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 Northeast monsoon likely to be normal: IMD Express news service @ New Delhi THE northeast monsoon that brings rain to five meteorological sub-divisions of south peninsular India between October-December is most likely to be normal, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday The five states are . Tamil Nadu, coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, Kerala and southinterior Karnataka. Normal monsoon would mean the region may receive 88% to 112% of the long-period average of 334.13 mm of rainfall. The northeasterly winds normally set in over the Bay of Bengal and south peninsular India, resulting in the onset of northeast monsoon rains in October. Similar to the southwest monsoon that drenches India from June to September, the northeast monsoon is another major and permanent feature of the Indian subcontinent’s climate system. According to the IMD, the southwest monsoon season has ended with India receiving “near normal” cumulative rainfall amid positive factors countering the effect of El Nino conditions. WITH THIS ISSUE Home Advantage PLUS 12 PAGES medal of honour: epic return and happy ending (From left) India men’s squash team won gold with a thrilling 2-1 win over Pakistan at the Asian Games; tennis stars Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale were the other big performers as they bagged mixed doubles gold; Ayhika Mukherjee and Suthirtha Mukherjee shocked reigning world champion duo of Chen Meng and Wang Yidi to enter the women’s doubles semifinals, assuring India a historic table tennis medal | pti | P13 canada fallout Indian High Stopped visa Commissioner to UK service as diplomats heckled by K-gang felt unsafe: Govt saying ‘he was not welcome’. The person who heckled India’s High Commissioner Doraiswamy, went on camera to the United Kingdom, to say that they needed to proVikram Doraiswami, was on tect their religious rights and Friday heckled by a small were upset with what was group of Khalistani radicals happening in Canada. “This interaction was in Glasgow, Scotland, to discuss consular isin what the Indian sues and community ismission described as sues,” read a statement disgraceful. by the Indian High The Sikh GurudCommission in London. wara Committee in a The organisers, who inGlasgow Gurdwara Vikram cluded senior commuhad organised a comDoraiswami nity leaders and a memmunity reception for ber of the Scottish Doraiswami. A group of Khalistani activists from Parliament, were threatened outside Scotland turned up, by the three. To prevent the physically intimidated the lo- situation from escalating, Docal Sikh community and tried raiswami left. “One of the exto attack Doraiswami in his tremists attempted to violentcar. Some others tried to film ly force open the HC’s this flare up and share it on (Doraiswami’s) car door,” the their social media accounts, statement said. Y e s h i Se l i @ New Delhi Elathur train arson attack a ‘jihadi act’: NIA chargesheet E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Kochi The arson attack on the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express in April was a jihadi act, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) stated in the chargesheet filed against sole accused Sharukh Saifi at the NIA Court in Kochi on Friday . The NIA, in a statement issued on Saturday said the , probe revealed that Saifi, 27, had chosen Kerala for the act involving terror and arson as he wanted to commit the jihadi act in a place where he would not be recognised. He had intended to return to normal life after the commission of the act aimed at creating terror in people’s minds, the statement said. According to NIA, Saifi was self-radicalised through various online propaganda materials that promoted extremism and Jihad. “In this process, he followed radical and hardline Islamic preachers, including those based in Pakistan, on social media platforms. He committed the arson as a jihadi act in pursuance of online radicalisation,” it said. On April 2, 2023, Saifi, a native of Shaheenbagh in New Delhi, poured petrol on passengers in the D1 coach of the Executive Express when the train crossed the Elathur station in Kozhikode and set the train on fire. copy that! Homework machine looks to ‘rewrite’ rules of assignment A n u K u r u v i l l a @ Kochi If there’s one thing that students, especially those in the professional stream, find bothersome is cumbersome writing assignments. Fed up with what is seen as a byproduct of rote learning, a fourth-year engineering student of Cheruthuruthy Jyothi Engineering College has come up with a machine that makes light work of the time-consuming writing process. Devadath P R’s ‘homework machine’ is finding resonance with the student commu- The homework machine nity not just in the state but also nationally Another . student, Sidharth Punathil, assisted Devadath in the project. “Writing assignments were taking up most of my time, which I could have been spending researching or studying. It was becoming very tedious. So, one day when I was asked to submit an assignment, I thought of developing a machine that would do the job for me,” said Devadath. And why not? he adds. “All students do with assignments is copy matter that is available in books and on the internet. Nothing is original,” says the robotics engineering student who is now planning to commercialise his invention. His first attempt was a failure after a teacher realised that the assignment that he had submitted was ● More on P7 a printout.  Washington. Jaishankar, who had menThreats to India’s diplo- tioned that Canada was dismats in Canada and the risk cussed during his interaction in their going to the consu- with US Secretary of State late offices was one of the Anthony Blinken, said there reasons why India had to stop was a difference of percepvisa services for Canation in the way the US da, said External Afand India looked at fairs Minister S Canada. Jaishankar. “When Americans “We were left with look at Canada they no choice but to stop see something, we in visa services for CanaIndia see something da. There was a cam- Subramanian else. It is important to Jaishankar paign targeting our talk it out. The US is diplomats who felt unclose to Canada and a safe travelling to the consu- good friend of ours. They lates. Thereby we had to stop. have our point of view, we This was a law and order is- have taken a reasonable sue. Under the Vienna Con- stance,” he added. India is a vention our missions and dip- democracy and doesn’t need lomats had to be provided to learn from other people with a safe cover,” said Jais- about the freedom of speech, hankar, during a presser in Jaishankar said. Y e s h i Se l i @ New Delhi ‘I am someone who was judged, criticised even before I took oath’ P4 Coming in Dec, PM’s 2047 vision document D i pak M o n da l @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil a vision document for India in December this year, according to top government sources. The government’s think tank Niti Aayog is believed to be working on it, which will draw a roadmap for resolving challenges India will face in the next few decades. “The challenges of the old century (roti, kapda aur makaan) have been resolved. The focus will be on how to address the challenges of the future. The PM’s Vision 2047 will outline strategies for the future,” said a top govern- ment official. According to s o u rc e s, o l d g ove r n m e n t schemes are reaching saturation. “We have taken electricity to all villages, and all houses will have tap water connections by next year. With Ayushman Bharat, a large part of the population has been covered by health insurance. Now, it is the time for India to close the door of the last century and prepare for the problems of the next century,” said the official. The document may focus on digital infra, new ways of transportation, green and renewable energy, and taking delivery of healthcare and education to a new level.