MADURAI l sunday l october 01, 2023 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l LATE CITY 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 Northeast monsoon likely to be normal: IMD Express news service @ New Delhi 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 K-gang heckles Stopped visas as Indian High diplomats felt Commissioner unsafe: Govt WITH THIS ISSUE Home Advantage PLUS 12 PAGES Y e 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 Vikram their social media accounts, saying Doraiswami ‘he was not welcome’. The person who heckled Doraiswamy went on camera to say that , they needed to protect their religious rights and were upset with what was The happening in Canada. “This interacorganisers tion was to discuss consular issues of the interaction and community issues,” read a statewere ment by the Indian High Commisthreatened sion in London. The organisers, who and abused included senior community leaders by these and a member of the Scottish Parliaelements ment, were threatened by the three. Indian High To prevent the situation from escaCommission, UK lating, 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. Woman, daughter die of suffocation after AC blast E X PR E SS N E WS S E RVI C E @ Chennai A woman and daughter died of suffocation in sleep after an air-conditioner unit at their home exploded due to suspected power fluctuation emanating noxious fumes on Saturday at Ambattur in Chennai The deceased were identified as R Hasina Begum, 50, and her daughter Nazriya, 16, of Menamedu in Ambattur. Police said Hasina was working in a private school as a domestic help while her daughter was a Class 11 student of another private school near her house. Hasina’s husband Rahmath passed away a few years ago and the two were staying alone in the rented house. “After seeing smoke billowing out from the house, a few neighbours broke open the door around 5am on Saturday . The mother and the daughter were found lying unconscious on the floor and they were rushed to a nearby hospital. Hasina was declared dead on arrival by the doctors at the hospital,” a police officer said. Police said doctors gave emergency treatment to Nazriya but she too died a few hours later. “The cause of death was suffocation. They may have inhaled smoke while sleeping and could have been immobilised before they could react,” a fire services officer said. Y e s h i Se l i @ New Delhi 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, Subramanian during a presser in Washington. Jaishankar Jaishankar, who had mentioned that Canada was discussed during his interaction with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, said there was a difference of perception in the We have an way the US and India looked at ongoing problem with Canada. Canada which “When Americans look at Canada revolves they see something, we in India see around something else. It is important to permissivetalk it out. The US is close to Canada ness on and a good friend of ours. They have terrorism our point of view, we have taken a S Jaishankar, reasonable stance,” he added. foreign minister 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. 8 killed, 49 injured as bus falls into gorge Express News Service @ Coimbatore Brake failure may have led to the accident, police sources said | Express At least eight people, including four women and a 15-year-old boy , died and 49 others were injured after a tourist bus fell into a 50-footdeep gorge near Marapallam on the Nilgiris Ghat Road around 5.45 pm on Saturday. Four more people under treatment are in critical condition. The deceased were identified as V Nithin (15), S Devikala (36), S Murugesan (65), P Muppidathy (67), R Kowsalya (29), Jaya (50), Thangam (40), and Elango (64), police said. According to A Saravana Sundar, DIG, Coimbatore Range, at least 59 people, including the driver and cleaner of the bus, all from Tenkasi district, were on their way back home on Saturday after a trip to Ooty when the accident happened. The driver lost control of the vehicle due to a suspected brake failure. 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 poll 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-todoor 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 participate in the From left: Shyamlal (88), Rabika Masih (84) and Shersingh Hidko (93) 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 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. PM’s 2047 vision document in Dec D i pa k M ond 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 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 gover nment official. According to sources, “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, healthcare and education One of the ideas is to provide people with access to expressways within 100 km from any part of the country. 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 south-interior Karnataka. Nor mal 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. The northeast monsoon is significant for the government of Tamil Nadu where six districts of the state have been declared drought-affected. According to agriculture department officials, blocks where crop damage is more than 33% due to rainfall shortage are declared as moderately agriculture drought-affected blocks. There was insufficient rainfall in these areas from October 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022. The state government has sanctioned 181 crore to provide input subsidy relief assistance to benefit over 1.87 lakh farmers in six southern districts of the state.