HUBBALLI  THURSDAY  JANUARY 18, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 14  CITY EDITION INDIAN ECONOMY WILL GROW 7% IN 2024-25, SAYS RBI GOVERNOR Indian economy should record a growth rate of 7% in the next fiscal and inflation is likely to ease further, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said INDIA STAYS STABLE AMID GLOBAL CHAOS: DAS NEXT YEAR’S CPI INFLATION PEGGED AT 4.5% Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Das said that India presents a picture of growth and stability amidst a challenging global macroeconomic environment. He credited the government for the various structural reforms undertaken in recent years that have boosted the medium- and long-term growth prospects of the Indian economy ■ ■ “With strong domestic demand, India remains the fastest growing major economy... We have emerged stronger out of the recent spate of global shocks,” the top banker noted | P11 Das pegged next year’s average CPI inflation at 4.5%, saying RBI is committed to, and confident of, achieving the 4% target soon 250 bps REPO RATE HIKES CARRIED OUT BY RBI SINCE MAY 2022 TO CONTROL INFLATION 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 Pak expels Iran envoy after airstrikes B’luru CEO kept son’s GOA HORROR Claims violation of sovereignty, global law after Tehran’s missile and drone strikes on terror bases in Balochistan Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi EXPRESS READ PM unveils plan to break Kerala jinx Kochi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday outlined the BJP’s roadmap to break the Kerala jinx in the coming LS elections.”Visit each household ... Check whether the family is a beneficiary of any such scheme. If not, take them to the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra currently in progress in the state and ensure that they receive the benefits,” Modi told the BJP’s in-charges. P5 Manipur: 2 cops die in gunfight Imphal: The death toll in the gunfight between state security forces and militants at Moreh in Manipur’s Tengnoupal district rose to two after another security personnel was shot dead on Wednesday evening. Earlier in the day during an ambush near Ima Kondong Lairembi Devi temple, a 32-year-old Manipur Police personnel died after being hit by bullets. PAKISTAN on Wednesday downgraded diplomatic relations with Iran, a day after Tehran launched an unprecedented missile and drone strikes on terrorist bases of a Sunni militant group in the restive Balochistan province. Pakistan recalled its ambassador in Tehran and asked his Iranian counterpart who is currently in Iran not to return. Iran is the second neighbour after India with which Pakistan has downgraded diplomatic ties. Pakistan also said it reserves the right to retaliate. “Pakistan has decided to recall its Ambassador from Iran and suspend all high-level visits ongoing or planned between the two countries following the unprovoked violation of its airspace by Tehran,’’ said Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, spokesperson of Pakistan’s foreign office. The ethnic Baloch population (see map) is spread across Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. Pakistan claimed that two children died during these attacks. “The attack was unprovoked and a blatant breach of Pakistan’s sovereignty by Iran and a violation of international law and the purposes and principles of the Charter of UN,’’ Baloch added. Two bases of Balochi outfit Jaish al-Adl in Pakistan were targeted by missiles and drones on Tuesday Iranian state media , reported. But Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahain claimed in Davos that the attack was on rogue Irani- ans getting sanctuary in Pakistan. Prior to the attack, Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar had met Abdollahain in Davos. China urged both sides to exercise restraint. “We call on both sides to exercise restraint, avoid actions that would lead to an escalation of tension and work together to maintain peace and stability,’’ said China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning. In his calibrated reaction, foreign office spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “This is a matter between Iran and Pakistan. Insofar as India is concerned, we have an uncomprom i s i n g p o s i t i o n o f z e ro tolerance to terror. We understand actions that countries take in their self-defence.” Flyer on Mumbai-B’luru sector stuck in SpiceJet loo for an hour as door jams EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru A male passenger on board a SpiceJet flight from Mumbai to Bengaluru on Tuesday had a harrowing time after he got stuck inside the washroom for most part of his journey as he could not open the door latch. He was rescued by an airline engineer only after the flight landed at the Kempegowda In- ternational Airport (KIA). The swift action of a cabin crew member slipping a note inside the washroom, asking the flyer not to panic and to stay calm, received wide appreciation after the incident. SpiceJet confirmed the incident and said it would provide the flyer a full fare refund. Flight No. SG 268, scheduled to fly on January 15 by 10.55pm, was delayed by nearly three hours. It took off from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 2am on January 16. After the flight took off, the flyer went to the washroom, but was unable to come out as the door latch got jammed. Hearing his screams for help, the crew members tried to unlatch the door, but could not. The flight landed at 3.42am on Tuesday and the shocked passenger was able to come out of the washroom after an engineer opened the door latch. P5 K’taka signs MoUs worth `22k crore with 7 firms EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru A delegation headed by Industries Minister MB Patil has signed MoUs worth Rs 22,000 crore with seven companies, including Web Werks India Private Ltd., during the World Economic Forum meet in Davos, Switzerland. According to a statement from the minister’s office, Web Werks India Private Ltd. signed an MoU with the state government to set up a data centre park with an investment of Rs 20,000 crore. The government will closely work with the company and try to provide all support to it to establish the park and associated infrastructure in Bengaluru. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah termed it a giant leap. “Great news from Davos! Karnataka has inked an MOU with Web Werks India Pvt Ltd at the World Economic Forum. We’re set to welcome a massive Rs 20,000-crore investment from Web Werks for a new Data Centre Park in Bengaluru. This is a giant leap in our infrastructure journey Welcome aboard, . Web Werks!” the CM tweeted. Microsoft signed an MoU with the state government on working towards skilling and governance initiatives, while Hitachi’s MoU is on economic development in the rural sector, healthcare, education, and panchayat e-governance. Hitachi has plans to start with MStar Telemedicine Deployment through Hitachi MGRM Net, the release said. Patil also held discussions with top executives from Sony , HP, Nestle, Honeywell, Lulu group, Inox Group, Takeda Pharma, Coinbase, Tillman Global, and BL Agro and assured them of the government’s support and cooperation for their future ventures in Karnataka. CONTINUED ON: P4 SUNNI GROUP WITH IRAN FOCUS AFGHANISTAN IRAN PA K I STA N BALOCHISTAN SINDH MAJOR ETHNIC GROUPS Balochi Sindhi Pashtun Punjabi Balochistan state in Pak Source: University of Texas at Austin 2019 Jaish al-Adl was behind the 2019 suicide bombing that killed 27 Iranian special forces D-Street bloodbath wipes `5 lakh crore off investor wealth shares following its poor third-quarter earnings and INDIAN stock markets the US Federal Reserve inditanked over 2% on Wednes- cating a delay in interest day — the biggest slump in rate cuts. Given its high one-and-a-half years — wip- weightage, an 8.5% fall in ing out investors’ wealth to HDFC Bank alone contribthe tune of `5 lakh crore. uted to a 944 points slip in The crash was on the back the Sensex. of a host of global and doChristopher Waller, one mestic developof the seven US ments, which trig- BIGGEST FALL Fed gover nors, gered big selling IN 19 MONTHS had said on Tuesacross Indian eqday that the cenuities, especially The benchmark BSE tral bank should in banking, metal Sensex fell 2.23% not rush to cut its while the broader and oil shares. benchmark interNifty slipped T h e 3 0 - s h a re est rate until inflaBSE Sensex closed 2.09%. The two key tion comes down stock indices on the Wednesday below 2%. The reWednesday session with a loss mark pushed the of 1,628 points, or suffered their worst 10-year treasury 2.23%, at 71,500.76 single-day losses in yields to above 4% percentage terms while the broader market and the Nifty50 settled 460 since June 13, 2022 dollar index to a points, or 2.09%, month high. This, lower at 21,571.95. Investors in turn, sent ripples across lost heavily as the market markets around the world. cap of all BSE-listed firms The selling pressure was came down to nearly `370 seen in the broader market lakh crore on Wednesday as well. In the Nifty50 pack, from `375 lakh crore in the shares of HDFC Bank fell previous session. the most (down 8.16%), folTwo biggest factors for lowed by Tata Steel (down Wednesday’s fall are inves- 3.97%), and Kotak Mahindra tors dumping HDFC Bank Bank (down 3.76%). A R S H A D K H A N @ New Delhi HIGH 21,851.50 LOW 21,550.45 21700 OPEN 21,647.25 DOUBLE DHAMAKA ABOUT 25% of teenagers in India between 14 and 18 years of age cannot fluently read a Class-2 level text in their mother tongue, the latest Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) released on Wednesday said. When it comes to reading English, about 42% could not read simple sentences. “A little over half can read sentences in English (57.3%). Of those who can read sentences in English, almost three-quarters can tell their meanings (73.5%),” the report said. 18-year-olds not currently enrolled as against 3.9% of 14-yearolds who took part in the survey . The survey found that 89% have access to a smartphone at home while 94.7% males and 89.8% females said they know how to use one. However, only 19.8% of females and 43.7% of males own a smartphone. This survey also found Humanities to be the most preferred stream for students after 10th standard. Of the Class 11 and 12 students surveyed, 55% opted for Humanities, 31% opted for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and 9% for Commerce. The proportion of out-ofschool children and youth has been secularly declining amid the government’s push to uni- CLOSE 21,571.95 NSE Nifty50 21550 09.00 10.00 11.00 12.00 25% teens can’t even fluently read Class 2 text in mother tongue Mathematics was also not a bright spot. Of the 34,745 teens surveyed, only 43.3% could solve a mathematical problem that involved dividing a threedigit number by a single-digit number – a skill that is expected of third or fourth-standard students. However, it is an improvement over the findings of the 2017 survey, when only 39.5% could solve a similar problem. Overall, 86.8% of the respondents are enrolled in educational institutions. The older youths are more likely to be not enrolled — 32.6% of It mostly operates out of Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Iran claims it has the backing of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia MARKET CRASH 21825 India captain Rohit Sharma plays a shot during the third T20 cricket match between India and Afghanistan, at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday. The hosts won the match in the second superover claiming two wickets | PTI | P13 Its stated aim is to free Sunni-majority Sistan and Baluchistan province from Iran’s control INDIA STATE OF EDUCATION K A V I TA B A J E L I - D AT T @ New Delhi Jaish al-Adl, or the “Army of Justice”, is a Sunni militant group founded in 2012 versalize secondary education, the report noted. “One major worry during COVID-19 was that with livelihoods being threatened, older children would drop out. That fear turned out to be unfounded,” said the survey report. About 84% have completed at least eight years of schooling, compared to 81% in 2017. ASER 2023 ‘Beyond Basics’ survey was conducted by Pratham Foundation, an education-focused non-profit in 28 districts across 26 states. At least one rural district was surveyed in each of the major states. 13.00 14.00 body in room for 19 hours NAUSHAD BIJAPUR @ Panaji/Belagavi Bengaluru-based AI startup CEO Suchana Seth reportedly celebrated the New Year in Goa before killing her 4-year-old son Chinmay in a serviced apartment there. It has come to light that she apparently attended “parental therapy” sessions in Bengaluru to raise her son “properly”. According to sources, she was in Goa with her son from December 31 to January 4. She then left for Bengaluru with her son and returned to Goa on January 6.Goa police sources said Seth allegedly killed her son two hours after she checked into Sol Banan Grande, the serviced apartment, on January 6 afternoon and kept the body in the room for 19 hours before checking out on January 7 midnight. The postm o r t e m re port revealed that Chinmay died 36 hours earlier. This meant Suchana killed him merely two hours after checking into the serviced apartment on January 6. The body was sent for postmortem before noon on January 8 in Chitradurga, the sources said. They said Seth did not receive calls or send messages from her cellphone after killing her son. She called the reception at 11.45 pm on January 7, requesting the staff there to book a cab for her to Bengaluru. Seth left Goa for Bengaluru with her son’s body stuffed in a suitcase. The sources revealed that the Goa police are expected to speak to the therapists in Bengaluru over Seth’s “parental therapy”. She may soon undergo a psychiatric evaluation at the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour in Goa, they said. Keep away CM tells Maha officials not to enter K’taka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah warns the Maharashtra government against letting its officials enter Karnataka to implement the health insurance scheme which the neighbouring state is planning in 865 border villages of Karnataka | P4 15.00 Kidwai can diagnose cancer, plan treatment on first visit A K N I S R E E K A R T H I K @ Bengaluru IN a move to improve cancer care, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology (KMIO) has introduced a new patient registration system at its outpatient department (OPD). This innovative concept aims to reduce the waiting time for cancer patients, prevent them from running around the hospital and provide them with a more comfortable experience. Normally, it takes more than three weeks to work up a cancer patient, including proper diagnosis and planning for appropriate treat- ment. However, the new system aims to complete all this within a single day . “Every day we receive near, ly 100 patients. Under the new system, any cancer patient visiting the hospital will be directed to a reclining chair. All work-up processes will be conducted right there. Hospital’s registration team will approach the patients, check if they qualify for government schemes such as Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka scheme and register their names. This will happen in over 20 minutes,” Dr V Lokesh, KMIO director, said. P5