coimbatore l thursday l september 19, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 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 War moving north, says Israeli minister 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 ■ 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 300 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 UKESH R A NJ A 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 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 Record 59% turnout in J&K Phase 1 polls Faya z w a n i @ Srinagar 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. express read NTK man held for attack over inter-caste love Tiruchy: The Valanadu police in Tiruchy on Wednesday arrested NTK’s state propaganda secretary Arunagiri for allegedly attacking a man on his private parts over an inter-caste relationship | P4 DVAC books SP Velumani, 10 officials for corruption Chennai: The DVAC has booked former AIADMK minister SP Velumani and 10 other officials of the Chennai Corporation for alleged corruption in awarding storm water drain and road work tenders in 2018 | P6 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. “I stood in a long queue and voted India goes past China in the MSCI Index Express News Service @ New Delhi I compliment our former President, Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji for spearheading this effort and consulting a wide range of stakeholders Narendra Modi It will not work. When polls come, and they do not have issues to raise, then they divert attention from real issues Mallikarjun Kharge On the back of a growing economy and improving corporate earnings, India for the first time overtook China in the MSCI equities index. India’s weight in the MSCI investible large, mid and small cap index rose to 2.35%, higher than China’s weight of 2.24%, said global financial firm Morgan Stanley in its latest note. The MSCI Index — Morgan Stanley Capital International Index — serves as a benchmark, showcasing the performance of mainly mid cap and large cap companies. “India will continue to gain share due to market outperformance, new issuances and liquidity improvements,” said Morgan Stanley’s analysts. India’s nominal GDP growth rate is more than thrice the economic growth in China. History-sheeter shot dead by cops in ‘self-defence’ in Chennai E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai A 45-year-old history-sheeter, Kakka Thope Balaji, was shot dead by police at a dilapidated BSNL quarters at Vyasarpadi in Chennai in the early hours of Wednesday He has 59 cases, . including six murders and 17 attempted murders, pending against him at various police stations. According to police, Balaji was shot in ‘self-defence’ when he allegedly opened fire at a police team that was pursuing him after he tried to evade a vehicle check at MKB Nagar. The police recovered more than 10kg of ganja and a sickle from his car. According to an official release, around 4.30 am on Wednesday, SI Nadhamuni and constable Sugan attached to the Kodungaiyur police were conducting a vehicle check at Mullai Nagar Junction in MKB Nagar. During the check, they stopped the car in which the history-sheeter was travelling. When a man sitting in the passenger seat got down from the vehicle as the police were conducting inquiry with him, Balaji sped away with the car. P7 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 of the matter is, irrespective of who becomes the president on September 21, he has an insurmountable task to revamp the economy and to keep things afloat. A new government will have to ensure that we meet revenue targets already agreed to. This is not negotiable. It is fundamental to the coun- try’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. There is little scope for making changes there. 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 the 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 agreements with bond holders to overcome the island’s default status, deal with corruption towards accountable gov- ernance 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. “Tackling corruption is key if Sri Lanka is to promote foreign direct investment,” he said. There is agreement that there are lessons to be learnt from the economic mismanagement of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration which brought the country to a standstill in 2022. Continued on: P9 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. Bias on non-Brahmin priests: Report sought T M u r u g a n a n d h am @ Chennai The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) Department has sought detailed reports from all regions in the state about the alleged discrimination being meted out to non-Brahmin archakas appointed by the state government in 2021 in various temples. Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu As- sociation for Trained Archakas has urged Chief Minister MK Stalin to enact a special legislation to address the issue of discrimination and ensure appointment of archakas from all castes in all temples, including ‘agamic’ temples. When asked whether the state government is devising a mechanism to structurally address concerns of discrimination and illtreatment allegedly being meted out to non-Brahmin archakas, HR and CE Commissioner PN Sridhar said the department has sought detailed zone-wise reports from senior officials and steps would be taken based on the reports. In 2021, the DMK government appointed 24 non-Brahmin archakas to temples and four more were appointed later. The appointments were challenged before various courts and a few cases are still pending before the Supreme Court. P7