kochi l thursday l September 19, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l late city EDITION After pagers, now walkie-talkies explode killing nine in lebanon Walkie-talkies exploded in Beirut and other parts of the country, killing at least nine people in the second wave of device explosions on Wednesday solar power systems blast at homes Besides walkie-talkies, fingerprint readers and several solar power systems installed in homes across the country also exploded. A girl was injured when a solar power system exploded at a home in Beirut. In the south of the city, several blasts were heard at the funeral for three Hezbollah members and a child killed by exploding pagers the day before 300 War moving north, says Israeli minister ■ The new wave of device explosions has raised fears of an all-out war between Lebanon and Israel. Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant hinted that a greater confrontation with Hezbollah could be ahead ■ “The war’s centre of gravity is moving north. We are at the start of a new phase. It requires courage, determination...,” Gallant said | P11 Injured in the latest wave of device explosions in lebanon 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 cabinet stamp on ‘one poll’ scheme Implementation group to be formed to take it forward M UK E SH RA N JA N @ New Delhi A day after Union home minister Amit Shah reiterated the Centre’s commitment to introducing the one nation, one poll scheme, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday accepted the recommendations of a high-level panel led by former President Ram Nath Kovind on the matter. The proposal aims to bundle elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies together, followed by urban body and panchayat polls within the subsequent 100 days. They will be discussed across India on various platforms and an implementation group will be formed to take the proposals forward. A bill on the one nation, one election scheme is likely to be introduced in the upcoming winter session of Parliament. Since 18 constitutional amendments have to be made to synchronise polls, the NDA will need extra support to get is passed in Parliament. At present, the NDA has 293 in the 543-member Lok Sabha, and 119 in the 245-member Rajya Sabha. A constitutional amendment can be passed only if the proposal has simple majority in the Lok Sabha as also twothirds of the members present and voting in the House. If all 543 Lok Sabha members are present on the day of voting, the bill will require the support of 362. The Opposition INDIA bloc has 234 in the Lok Sabha. In the Rajya Sabha, the NDA has 113 MPs and the assumed support of six nominated members, while the INDIA bloc has 85. If all members of the Rajya Sabha are present on the voting day two-thirds would be 164. , The process of synchronising elections would begin with the President notifying the date Kerala confirms India’s 2nd mpox case; 16 in isolation E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @T’Puram The state has confirmed its first —and India’s second—case of monkeypox (mpox) this year in a 38-year-old man from Edavanna in Malappuram. Following the confirmation, Health Minister Veena George has advised the public to exercise caution and announced a list of hospitals equipped for treatment and isolation in each district. 3.4 4.1 2023-24 2020-21 2000-01 1960-61 State Kerala 3.8 3.8 K’taka 5.4 6.2 8.1 8.2 TN 8.7 8.3 8.9 8.9 AP (undivided) 7.7 8.2 9.5 9.7 Source: Relative Economic Performance of Indian States: 196061 to 2023-24, a paper by Economic Advisory Council to the PM the flight, have been placed in home isolation. None of them are exhibiting symptoms, and the man’s condition is also good, said Malappuram District Medical Officer R Renuka. His samples will be sent to NIV Pune, , soon for identifying the strain. Veena said there was no need for concern. “We successfully provided supportive care to patients in the last outbreak. However, care should be taken to prevent the infection,” the ● More on P6 minister said.  Symptoms  Rashes, high fever, headache, exhaustion, muscle ache, cough and sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, blisters and red spots typically on the body within a week of fever onset  Minister Veena George allays fears, says only those who were in close contact with the patient have chance of being infected. Record 59% turnout in J&K Phase 1 polls President Murmu being presented a report on simultaneous elections by her predecessor Ram Nath Kovind | PTI 18 constitutional amendments To hold simultaneous elections, as many as 18 amendments to the Constitution and other statutes would be required. They include amending provisions on the preparation of the electoral roll (Article 325) of the first sitting of the Lok Sabha after a general election as the “appointed date”, the panel suggested. The tenure of all state assemblies formed via polls after the “appointed date” and before the expiry of the full term of the Lok Sabha, will be only for the period ending up to the subsequent parliamentary polls. After this one-time transitory measure, all Lok Sabha and assembly polls will be held simultaneously . If fresh polls are necessitated to constitute a new Lok Sabha in the event of a hung House or a no-confidence motion, or any such event, its will be only for the unexpired (remaining) term of the immediately preceding full term of the House. If elections are held for state assemblies, then such new assemblies — unless sooner dissolved — shall continue only up to the end of the full term of Lok Sabha, the Kovind panel recommended. P6, P9 A man shows his inked finger after voting in the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections in Bijbehara in Anantnag district on Wednesday | Zahoor Punjabi F aya z w a n i @ Srinagar I compliment our former President, Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji for spearheading this effort and consulting a wide range of stakeholders Voters made a beeline outside polling stations in seven districts of Jammu and Kashmir that voted in the first phase of Assembly elections, the first in 10 years, on Wednesday . Close to 59% of the electorate cast its vote by evening, which is decidedly the highest among the past seven elections. E X P R E S S R E AD Narendra Modi Govt to submit revised data on ESA soon It will not work. When polls come, and they do not have issues to raise, then they divert attention from real issues T’Puram: The state government will soon submit the details sought by the Centre to revise the Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA) in the state. In 2018, the government identified 8,656.46 sq km in 92 villages to be marked as ESA villages. Later, it was fixed as 8,711.89 sq km in 98 villages. P6 Mallikarjun Kharge 18 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express ‘Kerala losing share in national GDP; K’taka, T’gana emerging economic powerhouses’ States’ share of national GDP (in %) The man, who returned from Dubai on September 13, is under treatment at the Manjeri Medical College Hospital. He had sought treatment on September 16 for high fever accompanied by visible blisters, prompting the authorities to send his samples for testing. The confirmation came from the virology lab in Kozhikode MCH. As many as 16 people on his contact list, including those who were on M S V i d ya n a n d a n @T’Puram Kerala is the lone southern state with a ‘losing share’ in India’s GDP Oth. ers like Karnataka and Telangana have emerged economic powerhouses following economic liberalisation. A working paper by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) released on Tuesday made the observations. The paper said Kerala’s GDP share rose from 3.4% in 1960-61 to a peak of 4.1% in 2000-01, but has since drifted down to 3.8% in 2023-24. “It is the only southern state that seems to be losing share,” said the paper titled ‘Relative Economic Performance of Indian States: 1960-61 to 2023-24.’ A notable development following economic liberalisation, said the paper, is the emergence of southern states, especially Karnataka and Telangana, as economic powerhouses. Karnataka’s share in India’s GDP was 5.4% in 1960-61, and remained almost the same until 1990-91. Post liberalisation, the state saw rapid growth, with its GDP share rising to 6.2% by 2000-01 and reaching 8.2% by 2023-24. It now has the third-largest share of India’s GDP the paper said. , U n d iv i d e d A n d h r a P r a d e s h (AP+Telangana) now accounts for a 9.7% share, an increase of 2.1 percentage points since 1990-91 with most of the increase in share accounted for by Tel● More on P6 angana, said the paper.  Ear to the ground Not much wriggle room on external debt Dilrukshi Handunnetti Award-winning journalist and lawyer, founder and director of the Colombo-based Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s two presidential frontrunners have pledged to renegotiate the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), increase social security and ease people’s financial burdens, but experts say major deviations may not be feasible though it is possible to chip away at the edges. The fact is, irrespective of who becomes president on September 21, he has an insurmountable task to revamp the economy and to keep things afloat. A new government will have to en- sure we meet revenue targets already agreed to. It is fundamental to the country’s survival to have a stable tax revenue flow, said Umesh Moramudali, a lecturer in economics with the University of Colombo. Sri Lanka has performed well with revenue targets so far. Irrespective of who comes to power, the IMF will have to adopt a pragmatic approach and work with the new administration. Negotiating with external creditors is a time-consuming complex process. And neither Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) nor the National Peoples’ Power (NPP) will run such a political risk at this moment, Moramudali noted. The immediate priorities of the next government, according to Imran Furkan, a geopolitical economic risk analyst, will be to reach agree- ments with bond holders to overcome the island’s default status, deal with corruption towards accountable governance and to create conditions to increase consumption to pre-crisis levels to stabilise the economy and increase revenue. Furkan said that either party will try to introduce economic relief (which will require legislation). “The SJB will focus on expanding social welfare while the NPP will try to offer relief while tackling corruption,” Furkan told this newspaper. He added that the NPP has already been engaging with the IMF, realising that it will become necessary to reach an understanding in case of a victory “Tack. ling corruption is key if Sri Lanka is to promote foreign direct investContinued on: P9 ment,” he said.  “I stood in a long queue and waited patiently to cast my vote. It was my first vote since the 1987 polls,” said 72-year-old Ghulam Nabi Mir at a polling station in Tral in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district. There were long queues at all polling stations in the Tral Payeen area, a remarkable development given that Tral was known as “Kashmir’s Kandhar” during the era of militancy as it was a known stronghold of militants and separatists. “People have realised the importance of electoral politics. After the abrogation of Article 370, which disempowered us, we want to safeguard whatever is left there through our vote,” Mir said. Zubair Ahmed, a first-time voter, said he hopes the elected government will create jobs and usher in an era of development in J&K, especially in the Valley . Brisk polling was reported in Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag districts of south Kashmir, which voted in the phase. The first phase of polls covered 24 seats across seven districts. An election official in a polling station in Tral said it is the first time that such a large number of people are voting. “In the past, only a handful of people used to cast their votes,” she claimed.