KOttayam l saturday l November 30, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION World Chess: Gukesh, Ding play out drab draw in fourth game Chinese world champ somewhat surpises the Indian teen with an unconventional opening with white but he reacts well hold on with black Second draw with black for Indian All games have been combative: Anand This is now the second draw with black pieces in as many games for D Gukesh, aiming to become the youngest world champion. However, it wasn’t so similar to the second game as both players tried to ask a few questions before drawing by threefold repetition after 40th move. On Saturday, Gukesh will have white pieces. Both are tied on two points ■ ■ V Anand, five-time world champ, told this daily that all games have been combative and ‘interesting’. He made the ceremonial first move The only time the fourth game got rather hot was in the middle game when both players spent considerable time working their lines to ensure they didn’t cede any advantage | P11 2-2 Match score after four games. Fifth game is on Saturday 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 Outside support among options if he isn’t CM, Shinde tells Amit Shah If neither of the two options are acceptable, Shinde said the When caretaker Chief Minis- 57 MLAs in his Shiv Sena would ter Eknath Shinde met Union not be the part of next governhome minister Amit Shah in ment in Maharashtra. It would Delhi on Thursday he gave him instead extend outside support , three tough options on govern- to BJP-led government in both ment formation in Maharash- the state and the Centre. It tra. One, Shinde himself lead- would also mean withdrawing ing the government; two, his Sena’s minister for state at the Shiv Sena getting plum portfo- Centre, Prataprao Jadhav. lios in a BJP-led government; Shinde’s Sena with seven MPs and three, offering outside sup- is the fourth largest party in port both in Maharashtra and the ruling NDA. at the Centre. The BJP leadership is wary All three options are loaded because outside support carwith trouble despite Shinde’s ries the risk of instability at public posturing that the Centre, where he will not be an obthe BJP has only 240 stacle in government MPs, 32 short of a for mation in the s i m p l e m a j o r i t y. state. Shah advised “The BJP is heavily the Mahayuti leaddependent on the ers to thrash out an TDP (16), JDU (12) acceptable powerand Shinde for stasharing formula in bility and longevity Mumbai on Friday of the government. but Shinde played Shinde was the face of The BJP cannot risk the govt, so people mind games by coolignoring Shinde,” voted to give him a ly leaving for his nahighly placed sourcrepeat mandate. If he tive village Dare in is not made CM, then it es said. Satara district inJu s t i f y i n g h i s will send a wrong stead getting into a claim for chief minmessage huddle in the Maxiistership, Shinde Senior Shiv Sena leader mum City with BJP’s told Shah that the asDevendra Fadnavis sembly election was and NCP’s Ajit Pawar. fought under his leadership. He If he does not get to be the took credit for the consolidaCM, he said he will not person- tion of women voters happened ally join the government. But due to his Ladli Behna scheme, his party should be given adding Maratha votes came afweighty portfolios like home, ter he announced reservation finance and revenue. And the for them. decision on the deputy chief “Shinde also shared with minister representing the Sena Shah a couple of surveys that would be his, a senior Sena said he was the preferred leader said. Finance was with choice of the people as chief Ajit Pawar in the outgoing gov- minister before, during and afernment. And the BJP is reluc- ter polling,” said the source retant to part with home. questing anonymity . GDP growth sinks to 2-year low Economy grows just 5.4% in July-Sept quarter, raising doubts about meeting full-year target of 6.5% SLOW LANE Real GDP Growth (%) 10 S u d hir S urya w a nshi @ Mumbai Promise unkept? “Shinde is very unhappy as BJP top leadership had promised that if the allaince wins, he will continue as CM till 2029, but now they are reneging. This is not a good sign,” said a Sena leader Bunkum, says BJP But BJP leader Raosaheb Danave said no promise on post-poll chief ministership was made to Shinde by his party’s leaders stability matters A sulking Shinde would be bad news for the BJP as it could affect the stability of the NDA at the Centre. Shinde’s Shiv Sena is the fourth biggest party in NDA SC pauses trial court hearing on Sambhal 8 8.2 8.1 6.2 8.6 7.8 6.7 6 5.4 4.3 4 Q3FY23 Q4FY23 Q1FY24 Q2FY24 Q3FY24 Q4FY24 Q1FY25 Q2FY25 Nothing to worry, says CEA Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran said the overall GDP growth projection for FY25 at 6.5% is “not in danger”. He said agriculture and construction are among the ‘bright spots’, adding record production estimates for kharif foodgrains and rabi crop augur well for farm income and rural demand EXPRESS READ Fin dept for vigilance probe into pension fraud T’Puram: Finance Minister K N Balagopal has directed a vigilance inquiry into the social security pension fraud reported in Kottakkal municipality. The fraud was detected by the Financial Inspection Wing. Of the 42 beneficiaries examined, 38 were found to be ineligible. P4 Sabarimala sees 65% surge in devotees Pathanamthitta: In just 12 days since the Sabarimala temple opened for the pilgrimage season, the hill shrine witnessed a 65% increase in devotees compared to last year. Over 10 lakh devotees have visited Sabarimala since Vrishchikam 1. At 87,999, the highest number of pilgrims was witnessed on Thursday. P5 @ New Delhi In an indication of the wide net that cyber financial criminals have cast, the cyber division of the state police took down about 18,000 websites and 12,000 social media accounts involved in malicious activities in the last one year. Highly-placed sources said investigators removed 18,609 websites and 11,948 social media accounts from the cyberspace after serving notices to Gross fixed capital formation, which is expenditure on asset creation, grew at 5.4%, down from 7.5% in the first quarter. According to Chief Economic Advisor Dr V Anantha Nageswaran, there is no cause for alarm though the numbers are disappointing. While briefing the media, he said the global economic landscape is challenging, which is affecting India’s manufacturing sector. Key issues include a slowdown in production and the negative impact of dumping in industries like steel. Although steel consumption has increased, production levels have failed to match this growth, he added. Manufacturing has brought down the overall growth, said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist, Bank of Baroda. Typewriters or not, state govt still has 5,870 typist posts K S S R E E J I T H @ T’Puram The more things change the more they stay the same! In spite of its focus on e-governance and digitalisation, the state government still has close to 6,000 typist posts in various departments. And with no typewriters in use in most of its departments, these employees are being redeployed to non-typist jobs. Curiously, the recruitment for typists continues unabated. The personnel and administrative (P&A) reforms department, which carried out a study into redefining the nature of the job and responsibilities of typists, recommended that the government rename the post to ‘automation assistant’. The study was carried out after Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge at CWC meet | Shekhar Yadav Preeth a N a ir @ New Delhi Unsparing in his criticism of his party colleagues, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday asserted that ‘tough decisions’ will have to be taken and ‘accountability fixed’ for the recent electoral debacle of the party in Haryana and Maharashtra. Addressing the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in the Capital on Friday, Kharge questioned the dependence on national leaders for campaigning and urged party workers to focus on local issues. Referring to the factionalism within the Haryana unit, he said the lack of unity and statements against own party leaders harmed the party immensely . “Unless we fight elections unitedly and stop making statements against each other, how will we be able to defeat our opponents politically?” he asked. “Our strength lies in the strength of the party .” Kharge urged the party to learn from its mistakes and strengthen the organisation. While chief strategist Rahul Gandhi has come under criticism from several quarters for his immoderate focus on caste census, Kharge pointed out the importance of evolving state specific strategies. “It is important to understand the different issues of the states in detail and prepare a solid campaign strategy around them. “For how long will you fight state elections on the basis of national issues and national leaders?” he asked. Kharge also asserted that the party cannot achieve success by following old methods. “You have to see what your political opponent is doing on a daily basis. We have to take decisions on time. Accountability has to be fixed,” he said. Cyber fin fraud: 18k websites taken down in 1 yr S h a n A S @T’Puram INDIA’s economic growth fell to a seven-quarter low of 5.4% in the second quarter of 202425, dragged by the poor performance of the manufacturing and mining sectors. The sharp fall in the GDP growth, compared with 6.7% in the first quarter, was also driven by the slow pace in government spending and weak private consumption, according to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO). The growth was much below estimates. RBI had predicted the GDP to grow at 7% in Q2. Now, a full-year GDP growth of even 6.5% looks difficult. Manufacturing grew just 2.2% in Q2—a significant fall from 7% in April-June and the 14.3% growth seen in the yearago period. The mining and quarrying sector shrank 0.1% in Q2 of FY25 due to prolonged rainfall, which is in stark contrast to the 7.2% growth in the previous quarter and the 11.1% growth a year ago. Adding to the challenges, the growth rate for electricity gas, water supply , , and other utility services also plummeted, indicating a fall in consumption growth. It dropped from 10.4% last year to merely 3.3% this year. Construction also declined from 13.6% to 7.7%. Private consumption grew at 6% in Q2, down than 7.4% in the first quarter. The consumption slowdown was despite a lower base of 2.6% a year ago. legacy of a bygone ERA? Revenue dept tops list with 794 typist posts followed by general education (372) the All Kerala Typists and Stenographers Association approached the government with a petition saying that these employees should not be deputed to non-typist roles. Going by the study, as many as 5,870 typist posts exist in 84 departments. Revenue tops the list with 794 posts followed by general education (372). The other departments with the most typists include: irrigation (358), PWD (356), police (307), health (224), rural development (208), GST (207), agricultural development (179), technical education (156), engineering (149), and cooperatives (136). Even now candidates with SSLC and KGTE higher/lower qualification are being recruited to entry-level lower division typist jobs through the PSC route. They receive promotion as UD typist, senior-grade typist, selection-grade typist, and fair-copy superintendent. In an order issued in 1968, it was stipulated that Malayalam typists should be able to type 20 pages, each with at least 28 lines, a day. English typists were required to produce 704 lines, each containing a minimum of 10 words. The typist position was last revamped over 40 ● More on P4 years ago, in 1981. Kharge plainspeak at Cong Working Committee meet on factionalism S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Sambhal trial court in Uttar Pradesh not to take any further action pursuant to its order for a survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid. It asked the trial court to pause proceedings in the case till the mosque committee’s plea challenging the survey is listed in the Allahabad High Court. A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar also ordered that the report of the commissioner who conducted the survey be kept in a sealed cover. “Peace and harmony must be maintained at any cost,” it said. On November 19, a court passed an ex-parte order for a survey of the mosque by an advocate commissioner, after taking note of a plea of Hindu side that claimed the mosque was built over a temple. M O N I K A YADAV @ New Delhi the domain registrar and social media platforms, respectively . An official involved in the operations said, “Fake ecommerce sites, websites that ran trading and job scams and sites that hosted malicious apps were among those that were taken down.” Cyber fraudsters swindled a whopping `635 crore from Keralites until October 28 this year, which is three times the amount swindled last year. With two more months left, the figure is expected to touch `800 crore this year. Despite their best efforts, enforcement authorities could retrieve only about `87.5 crore of the total money lost. In all, nearly one lakh incidents of cyber financial fraud came to light in the state this year, while around 32,000 cases were registered. In about 3,050 cases, the amount swindled exceeded `1 lakh. An analysis done by the police had revealed that most victims fell for trading scams (1,157), followed by job scams (1,002) and courier scams (211). Victim profiling done in cases where the amount lost was over `1 lakh revealed that private employees (613), homemakers (338), businesspersons (319), NRIs (224), IT professionals (218), doctors (115), defence personnel (53), engineers (46), farmers (21) and priests (8) were among those conned.  Elephants being paraded during the ‘vilakku’ ritual held on the opening day of Vrishchikolsavam at Sree Poornathrayeesa temple in Tripunithura on Friday | T P Sooraj Elephantine tightrope walk at Sree Poornathrayeesa temple E x p ress N e w s S er v i c e @ Kochi Sticking to guidelines In a delicate balancing act, elephants were paraded in two rows for the first time in the history of Tripunithura Sree Poornathrayeesa temple on Friday to ensure strict adherence to the High Court order without compromising on tradition and dampening the festive fervour. The HC had on Thursday declined to relax the 3-metre distance between elephants on all four sides during parades. As per tradition, 15 elephants were paraded for the morning seeveli and evening vilakku ensuring 3m distance between the elephants. Celebrity tusker Pazhayannur Sreeraman of Fifteen elephants were paraded for seeveli and vilakku at the temple ensuring 3m distance between the elephants. Forest dept officials monitored the conduct of the rituals Cochin Devaswom carried the Thidambu (decorated replica of the deity) for the seeveli, while Chirakkal Kalidasan got the privilege for vilakku. The Cochin Devaswom Board (CDB) has arranged 33 elephants which will be paraded in turns twice a day during the eight-day Vrischikolsavam. In the first parade held after the High Court order, tuskers were paraded in two rows in front of the Anakottil, with nine lined up in the front row and six in the second row. Forest department officials monitored the conduct of the seeveli and vilakku. Forest officials arrived at the temple at 7am and inspected the compound after which spots were marked for parading the elephants. Later a rehearsal involving the animals was held to ensure that the guidelines were being met. A distance of 5m was maintained between the elephants and the flambeau, while the artists performing panchari melam (percussion ensemble) maintained a distance of 8m from the ele● More on P4 phants.