tirupati l sunday l october 01, 2023 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l anantapur EDITION RBI EXTENDS DEADLINE TO RETURN `2,000 bank NOTES TO oCTOBER 7 The Reserve Bank on Saturday extended the special drive to withdraw `2,000 bank notes from the system by another week, till October 7 96% of the notes have already COME BACK `2,000 note to remain legal tender The central bank said ever since it announced the decision to withdraw `2,000 notes on May 19, `3.42 lakh crore of such notes have been received into the system. That works out to 96% of the `2,000 bank notes that were in circulation, the RBI said. The earlier deadline to return was Sept 30. The RBI stopped printing `2,000 notes in financial year 2019 ■ ■ The RBI said the `2,000 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 `20,000 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 digital infra Coming in Dec, PM’s 2047 vision document D i pa k M o n d a 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 that 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 Prime Minister’s Vision 2047 will outline strategies for the future,” said a top government official. According to sources, old gover nment schemes are r e a c h i n g 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 and communication, green and renewable energy, and taking delivery of healthcare and education to a new level. One of the ideas is to provide people with access to expressways within 100 kilomtre from any part of the country. 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 | P11 canada fallout Indian High Stopped visa Commissioner service as to UK heckled diplomats felt by K-gang unsafe: Govt Ye s h i Se l i @ New Delhi Ye s h i Se l i @ New Delhi India’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Vikram Doraiswami, was on Friday heckled by a small group of Khalistani radicals in Glasgow, Scotland, in what the Indian mission described as disgraceful. The Sikh Gurudwara Committee in a Glasgow Gurdwara had organised a community reception for Doraiswami. A group of Khalistani activists from outside Scotland turned up, physically intimidated the local Sikh community and tried to attack Doraiswami in his car. Some others tried to film this flare up and share it on their social media accounts, saying Vikram ‘he was not welcome’. Doraiswami The person who heckled Doraiswamy, went on camera to say that they needed to protect their religious rights and were upset with what was happenThe ing in Canada. organisers “This interaction was to of the interaction discuss consular issues and were community issues,” read a threatened statement by the Indian High and abused Commission in London. The by these organisers, who included senelements ior community leaders and a Indian High member of the Scottish Parliament, were threatened by Commission, UK the three. To prevent the situation from escalating, Doraiswami left. “One of the extremists attempted to violently force open the HC’s (Doraiswami’s) car door,” the statement said, adding the timely reaction of an organiser helped avoid a bigger incident. “The vast majority of British Sikhs are amazing people but this tiny aggressive minority are not representative of them,” said Colin Bloom, former advisor to the British government. Threats to India’s diplomats in Canada and the risk in their going to the consulate offices was one of the reasons why India had to stop visa services for Canada, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. “We were left with no choice but to stop visa services for Canada. There was a campaign targeting our diplomats who felt unsafe travelling to the consulates. Thereby we had to stop. This was a law and order issue. Under the Vienna Convention our missions and diplomats had to be provided with a safe cover,” said Jaishankar, during a presser in Subramanian Washington. Jaishankar Jaishankar, who had mentioned that Canada was discussed during his interaction with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, said there We have an was a difference of percepongoing tion in the way the US and In- problem with Canada which dia looked at Canada. revolves “When Americans look at around Canada they see something, permissivewe in India see something ness on else. It is important to talk it terrorism out. The US is close to Canada S Jaishankar, and a good friend of ours. They have our point of view, foreign minister we have taken a reasonable stance,” he added. India is a democracy and doesn’t need to learn from other people about the freedom of speech, he said. “We don’t think freedom of speech extends to incitement of violence. This is misuse of freedom,’’ Jaishankar pointed out. India’s point is that there is a climate of intimidation. Smoke bombs have been thrown at India’s missions, posters threatening violence have been put up. CHhattisgarh polls Born before freedom, they will vote for first time Ejas Kaiser @ Raipur PARADOXICALLY, the right to vote in India isn’t a fundamental right, though democracy is recognised as a basic feature of our Constitution. Here are three elders from Chhattisgarh —all born before Indian Independence—who have never voted. Call it the will of democracy that they will vote in this assembly election for the first time. Shersingh Hidko (93), Shyamlal (88), Rabika Masih (84) belong to the Bhanupratapur assembly constituency in Kanker district, about 200 km south of Raipur. The three recently registered as voters during the special summary revision of electoral rolls. The Booth Level Officer (BLO) Rajendra Kosma during a door-to-door survey found the three had never used their voting rights. “We reached out to remote interior areas during summary revision and in the course of the survey were surprised to find Hidko, Shyamlal, Masih had never voted either in assembly polls or parliament elections. We are encouraging people to actively participate in the assembly elections due later this year,” said Pratik Jain, sub-divisional magistrate and electoral registration officer in Bhanupratapur. They were initially hesitant to enroll as voters but when informed about their role as Indian citizens, they said they would vote in the upcoming polls. They have submitted From left: Shyamlal (88), Rabika Masih (84) and Shersingh Hidko (93) Election-bound state Chhattisgarh has 90 MLAs and the assembly election may be held in Nov as it was held in 2018. The Election Commission of India is yet to announce the date for polls their documents, including the Aadhaar card copies and photographs to the officer for inclusion of their names in the list of voters. “Being a registered voter is exciting. I never knew the importance of citizenship,” Hidko said. Shyamlal and Masih still do not know how the polls lead to democratic governance. Chhattisgarh chief electoral officer Reena Babasaheb Kangale said the Election Commission wants to ensure that no voter is left behind. “Efforts are also on to set up polling stations close to those habitats where villagers had to walk 10-15 km to vote. The move has motivated the locals, particularly across the Bastar region,” she said. For the first time in Chhattisgarh, senior citizens above 80 years of age and persons with disabilities (over 40%) will be allowed to vote from their homes through postal ballots, Kangale added. Naidu’s ex-personal assistant suspended E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Assistant Secretary (Planning) P Srinivasa Rao, who was also the former personal assistant of former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, was placed under suspension on charges of violating rules. Chief Secretary KS Jawahar Reddy issued an order to this effect on Saturday . As per the order, Srinivasa Rao violated Rule 3 (1) APCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964 by disobeying the orders of higher authorities and will be under suspension until further orders in public interest. Srinivas has been accused of playing a key role in the State Skill Development Cor- poration (APSSDC) scam, in which TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu was arrested. The State government has alleged that Naidu’s former PA fled to the US to evade investigation in the case. He has also been mentioned in the Income Tax notice issued to the TDP chief over the alleged undisclosed income of 118 crore. The order further stated that the headquarters of Srinivas will be Velagapudi in Guntur district and that he should not leave the headquarters without prior permission of the undersigned. During the period of suspension, Srinivas will be paid subsistence allowance as admissible under Rule 53 of Fundamental Rules, the order read. express read Northeast monsoon likely to be normal: IMD 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 Bhuvaneswari to stage hunger strike on Oct 2 Vijayawada: Bhuvaneswari will stage a day-long hunger strike in Rajamahendravaram on October 2, condemning her husband’s ‘illegal’ arrest in the skill development scam, TDP State president K Atchannaidu announced on Saturday | P4 TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh & wife Brahmani took part in the Motha Mogiddham protest in New Delhi & Rajahmundry respectively | Express APCID summons Lokesh for probe in inner ring road case on Oct 4 E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (APCID) on Saturday evening served a notice on TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh under Section 41 (A) of CrPC, directing him to appear before the probe agency at its Economic Offences Wing-II office in Tadepalli on October 4 at 10 am for questioning in the case pertaining to the alleged irregularities in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road (IRR). In its notice, the CID also asked the TDP leader to bring with him three documents— bank account details of Heritage Foods Limited, minutes of the board meetings related to land transactions and payment details for the land transactions—for the purpose of in- vestigation. The slueths, who arrived at TDP MP Jayadev Galla’s residence in New Delhi, were received by Lokesh who did not appear to be flustered. The 40-year-old offered them coffee and sought to know why they came all the way to the national capital even after he had informed them that he would appear for questioning after rec e iv i n g t h e n o t i c e o n P4 WhatsApp.  sea of devotees A number of devotees made a beeline at the Srivari temple in Tirumala on Saturday. The pilgrim rush, witnessed after a long time, has been attributed to the long weekend & Purattasi Saturday. The rush is expected on Sunday and Monday on account of Gandhi Jayanti | P3