KOCHI l tuesday l april 09, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l LATE city EDITION Combined m-cap of BSE-listed companies hits K400 lakh crore The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms reached all-time closing high of D400.86 lakh crore on Monday amid a record rally in equities records 300% growth in a decade Investors betting on q4 growth hopes The combined market cap of BSE-listed companies zoomed 300% since March 2014 when it first crossed the C100 crore milestone. The C200 lakh crore mark was first touched in February 2021 and C300 lakh crore in July 2023—a mere nine months ago. During Monday’s trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 0.67% to settle at 74,742.50—up 3.4% year-to-date | P12 ■ The unprecedented bull run in Indian equities comes amid rising retail participation as shown by sharp surge in the number of demat account holders from 36 million in 2019 to 151 million in 2023 ■ “Investors are betting big on Indian stocks on expectations of a strong growth momentum,” Prashanth Tapse of Mehta Equities said 266 stocks hit their 52-week high on the bombay stock exchange on Monday 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 Welfare pension not a right, just assistance: State govt in HC P R a m d a s @ Kochi The state government has submitted before the Kerala High Court that the collection of cess for social security pension (SSP) doesn’t make the pension statutory. According to the government, any of such pension schemes cannot be claimed as a matter of right. Though named as ‘pension’, it is only an assistance, it submitted. The government made the submission in response to a public interest litigation filed by advocate Shibi A A of the High Court against non-disbursement of social security pension to beneficiaries. The petitioner pointed out that the state has been collecting Social Security Cess on sale of liquor and fuel with effect from April 1, 2023, under Section 1 of Section 6 of Kerala Finance Act 2008. The government, however, is not disbursing the pension on time, the plea stated. The government is collecting cess at the rate of `20 for each bottle of IMFL (Indianmade foreign liquor) having maximum retail price (MRP) between `500 and `999 and at the rate of `40 per bottle of IMFL having MRP above `1,000, and on sale of petrol and diesel at the rate of `2 per litre, the petitioner said. The government informed the court that SSP is a government scheme which is an administrative matter entirely depending on the availability of funds. In addition to three pension schemes — Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme, Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme and Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme — the ‘State has authority to decide on disbursal’ The state government submitted before the Kerala High Court that it has the authority to decide when to disburse the pension and at what rate it is to be disbursed. state government provides a monthly pension of `1,600 to more than 3 lakh farmers and around 76,000 unmarried women above the age of 50. There is no assistance from the Union gover nment for these two schemes. The amount required per month to effect payment to the beneficiaries of all five schemes is more that `900 crore. In addition to this, the state has to find funds to the tune of `90 crore per month for the disbursal of 16 Welfare Fund Board pensions. There are more than 50 lakh social se- curity/welfare pension beneficiaries in the state, the government said. The state said it has the authority to decide when to disburse the pension and at what rate it is to be disbursed. Despite earnest efforts, the current financial position hinders its efforts for timely disbursal of welfare pensions. It further stated that the arg u m e n t t h a t Va l a y a t h Joseph of Chakkittapara in Kozhikode died by suicide as he did not get welfare pension is not tenable. Court rejects interim bail to Kavitha in excise scam Says prima facie material shows her involvement in alleged offence SUCHIT R A K ALYA N M O HA N T Y @ New Delhi celestial diamond ring The Moon almost covers the Sun during a total solar eclipse, as seen from Mazatlan, Mexico, on Monday | AP 194 candidates to battle it out in state’s 20 seats E x pr e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @T’Puram THE FINAL PICTURE A total of 194 candidates are contesting the LS polls in state. 169 25 men women 14 Kottayam has the most number of candidates Least number in Alathur (5) 4 Vadkara has highest no of women candidates 227 candidates were in fray in 2019 LS election As many as 194 candidates are in the fray for the upcoming Lok Sabha election in Kerala. On the last day for withdrawal of nominations on Monday 10 candidates from , nine constituencies backed out. These included eight independents and two dummy candidates of the BDJS in Mavelikkara and Chalakudy constituencies. After the final picture emerged, the highest number of candidates was in Kottayam (14) and least in Alathur (5). Kozhikode, Kollam and Kannur have 12 candidates each. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, there were 227 candidates in the fray, with Wayanad boasting the highest number of candidates at 20. Alathur brought up the rear even then, with six candidates. Of the 194 candidates in the running, 169 are men and 25 women. There is no transgender candidate. Vadkara has the highest number of women candidates, at four. With the final list of candidates being finalised, the Election Commission has begun the process of allotting symbols to them. Apart from Mavelikkara and Chalakudy, the other constituencies where candidates withdrew from the fray are Thiruvananthapuram, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Wayanad and Vadakara. P5 Pinarayi indulging in Muslim appeasement: Chennithala he exuded confidence that this time, the UDF will all 20 in the Lok Sabha election. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vi“Pinarayi Vijayan is eyeing jayan has been playing appease- Muslim votes while Narendra ment politics over the Modi wants Hindu Citizenship (Amendvotes,” said Chennithament) Act (CAA) to woo la. “Pinarayi and Modi Muslim voters, alleged want a Congress-mukth Cong ress campaign Bharat. They are incommittee chairman dulging in similar Ramesh Chennithala. strategies to divide soThe senior leader, ciety But we are confi. who is also a permadent of a comeback. nent invitee to the ConNot only minorities, a gress Working Com- Ramesh Chennithala large section of Hindus mittee, alleged that are also aligned with both Prime Minister Narendra the INDIA alliance,” he said. Modi and Pinarayi are trying “We want to protect the Constito divide people on communal tution, parliamentary democlines. racy and secularism,” ChenIn an interview with TNIE, nithala said. Full interview | P5 Bibi says date fixed to invade Rafah Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday escalated his pledge to invade southern Gaza’s, saying, ‘There is a date’. He said Rafah operation is essential for Israel’s victory over Hamas IN a setback to BRS leader K Kavitha, a Delhi court on Monday denied her interim bail in the Delhi excise policy case. Rejecting the bail plea, special Judge Kaveri Baweja said the material presented by the Enforcement Directorate prima facie shows the Telangana politician is actively involved in the alleged money laundering offence, destruction of evidence, and attempting to influence witnesses in the case. Kavitha, the daughter of former Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao, had sought interim bail saying her 16-year-old son has exams and needs her ‘moral and emotional support’. The judge said there was no apparent reason why close relatives can’t provide moral support to the child, rejecting the argument that they can’t be a substitute for the mother to address the exam-related anxiety of the ward. The court also noted that Kavitha, 46, can by no standards be considered a ‘vulnerable’ woman who could be made a scapegoat for committing the alleged offences, adding there is no compelling reason to grant her interim relief at this stage. Kavitha was arrested by the ED on March 15 and remanded in the probe agency’s custody till March 23, which was subsequently extended. Since March 26, she has been in judicial custody . According to the ED, she is part of the ‘South Group’ lobby which allegedly paid `100 crore as , kickbacks to AAP leaders in return for a big share of Delhi liquor licences. U J WAL J ALALI @ New Delhi THE Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday questioned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s personal assistant Bibhav Kumar and Aam Aadmi Party legislator Durgesh Pathak in connection with the money laundering probe in Delhi excise policy case, evoking a sharp reaction from AAP that the BJP wants to stop it from campaigning in the Lok Sabha polls. Sources said Kumar was questioned to seek some clarifications on some documents in the excise probe, while Pathak was called in connection with the party’s 2021-22 poll campaign for the Goa assembly polls. Pathak was the AAP’s in-charge for Goa elections. According to the ED, `45 crore from criminal activities were utilised in the electoral campaign of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for Goa. The probe agency had in its earlier chargesheets alleged that at least 36 accused, including former deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Bibhav Kumar, had destroyed, used or changed 170 phones to conceal evidence of ‘kickbacks’ worth thousands of crores in the alleged scam. According to the ED, Bibhav’s mobile phone IMEI number had been changed four times between September 2021 and July 2022. Y e s h i S e l i @ New Delhi The issue of Kashmir figured in the talks visiting Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had with his Saudi Arabian counterpart Prince Mohammad bin Salman in Makkah. “The two leaders stressed the importance of dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the outstanding issues between the two nations, especially for the Jammu and Kashmir dispute to ensure peace and stability in the region,’’ their joint statement released on Monday read after the bilateral talks a day earlier. The two leaders also discussed the situation in Gaza and supported the peace process in accordance with the resolutions of UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly and the Arab Peace Initiative “for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital”. New Delhi’s long-held position is that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and there is no question of any third party role. Diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan remain downgraded ever since 2019 after Article 370 that gave J&K special powers was read down. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished his newly elected Pakistani counterpart after the latter assumed power. Though things haven’t improved on the ground yet, the business community in Pakistan is pressing for resumption of cross-border trade with India. But New Delhi has always maintained that ties with Islamabad can improve only if it stop its terror factory . 18 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express CPM talks of ‘rescue act’ in blast cover-up E x pr e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Kozhikode In what could be interpreted as a move to influence the police investigation, CPM state secretary M V Govindan said the DYFI local leader arrested in connection with the bomb blast in Panur was engaged in a ‘rescue mission’. Addressing an LDF rally in Kochi on Monday, Govindan said the DYFI leader had arrived at the blast spot along with others. “He was in the forefront, taking the injured to hospital. He too has ended The DYFI leader had arrived at the spot along with other people. He was in the forefront, taking the injured to the hospital. He too has eneded up in the police net M V Govindan, CPM state secretary up in the the police net,” he said. Govindan’s remarks come against the backdrop of the DYFI links of the accused in the incident coming to light. Athul Babu, whom the Demand for probe by central agencies Alleging that there is an attempt to sabotage the investigation into Panur blast, Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala demanded a probe by central agencies like the CBI or the NIA. CPM state secretary mentioned, is the joint secretary of DYFI in Meethale Kunnothparamba. Another accused Sayooj, who was arrested from Palakkad, is the unit sec- retary of DYFI Kadungampoyil unit, and Shijal, who was taken into custody on Monday, is the secretary of the Kunnothparamba unit. DYFI state secretary V S Sanoj also echoed what Govindan said. “They (the DYFI leaders) rushed to the spot on hearing the news of the blast. The organisation will not protect any member who is involved in the making of bombs,” Sanoj told reporters in Kannur. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said there is no question of protecting anyone in- volved in the incident. “There is no situation here to manufacture bombs,” he said. The chief minister, however, justified the CPM local leaders visiting the house of the person who was killed in the blast. Meanwhile, the accused in the custody of police have reportedly told them that there was no political rivalry behind the making of bombs. They reportedly told the police officers that the bombs were made to scare the rival gang led by a person named ● More on P6 Devanand. right to privacy E x pr e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ T’Puram AAP cries foul as ED grills MLA, Kejri aide Saudi push for Kashmir talks between India & Pak Supreme Court seeks ‘pin-point’ response from Google S u c h i t r a Mo h a n t y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday asked Google to explain how the pin location-sharing feature works on its Maps application so that it can decide whether asking an accused to share his pin location with the investigators as a pre-condition for granting bail would violate his right to privacy . “We need to examine if an accused (on the orders of the court) has to provide the investigators with detailed informa- tion about their whereabouts, then will it be likely to infringe the individual’s right to privacy or not,” a two-judge bench of the top court, headed by Justice Abhay S Oka and comprising Justice Ujjal Bhuyan asked. On the Union government’s advice, the Supreme Court had on February 23 asked Google India to file a detailed affidavit explaining the technical aspects of pin-location feature on Google Maps. Delhi High court’s bail order The Supreme Court was hearing a plea against an order of bail granted to a Nigerian national by the Delhi High Court in a case registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The order required him to share his location with the investigators while on bail “The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has given an affidavit and has suggested that as far as working of the Google pin is concerned, it’s appropriate if the information is sought from Google India Pvt Ltd,” the court said. However, during Monday’s hearing, a counsel for Google India said since the product was developed by US-based Google LLC, it would be the appropriate entity to explain how the pin-location feature works. The court took notice of the submission and issued a notice to Google LLC. The top court had earlier remarked that requiring the accused to share their Google pin location with investigators prima facie violates the right to privacy of the accused. It had also observed that when an accused has been enlarged on bail by courts with the conditions set by them, it might be improper to know and track his or her whereabouts, as it could hamper their right to privacy .
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