bengaluru l Monday l December 02, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION GST mop-up increases by 8.5% to `1.82 lakh crore in November Gross GST collections increased to `1.82 lakh crore in November on higher revenues from domestic transactions, official data showed over 11% increase in Net collection Tax from domestic transactions up 9.4% The Central GST collection stood at B34,141 crore, State GST at B43,047 crore, Integrated GST at B91,828 crore, and Cess at B13,253 crore. Refunds worth B19,259 crore were issued during the month, registering a 8.9% decline over the same period last year. After adjusting for refunds, net GST collection shot up by more than 11% to B1.63 lakh crore ■ ■ GST from domestic transactions grew 9.4% to B1.40 lakh crore in November, while revenues from tax on imports rose 6% to B42,591 cr The month’s GST mop-up is 8.5% higher than the B1.68 lakh crore collected during the same month last year. On a sequential basis, it is 2.6% lower than the B1.87 lakh crore collected in October | P10 `2.1 L crore GSt collection recorded in april 2024 is the highest ever 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 Donald Trump threatens BRICS with 100% tariffs US President-elect warns against trying to undercut the US dollar Trump picks Kash Patel as new FBI chief YESHI SELI @ New Delhi The National Disaster Response Force engaged in rescue operations using an earthmover in Puducherry on Sunday | sriram r 9 killed as Fengal drowns Pondy, North TN e x p r e s s n e w s s e r v i c e @ Chennai Slow-moving cyclonic storm ‘Fengal’ has brought unprecedented rainfall to Villupuram and Puducherry where it made , landfall shortly before Saturday midnight. Torrential rains lashed Villupuram, Puducherry and surrounding areas from Saturday night, resulting in the Union Territory recording 49 cm of rainfall, the highest in its history, and the automatic weather station in Mailam registering 51cm, the highest-ever recorded in Villupuram district. According to officials, four people died in rain-related incidents in Puducherry, three in Tiruvannamalai and one each in Vellore and Chennai. Schools in Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur, Dharmapuri and Salem, and both school and colleges in Tiruvannamalai, Cuddalore, Villupuram, Puducherry and Krishnagiri, will remain closed on Monday due to the rains. The rainfall resulted in residential areas and arterial Tiruvannamalai landslide: 7 trapped At least seven persons, including five children, are feared trapped inside a house beneath a landslide near the lower slopes of the Annamalaiyar Hill in Tiruvannamalai district on Sunday. The landslide, which occurred around 4.30 pm, was triggered by incessant rainfall P5 roads in Puducherry being flooded. Parts of Villupuram district were also heavily inundated, however, no deaths related to the rain have been reported there, officials said. On Saturday, between 8.30 am and 7.30 pm, Puducherry received 9.5cm of rain, while Mailam in Villupuram district, got 13.6cm. By night, the showers began to intensify and by Sunday morning, Mailam had recorded a staggering 51cm of rainfall, followed by the Union Ter ritory with 49cm.  More reports: P5 Orange alert for B’luru, schools shut in Kolar E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Bengaluru With Cyclone Fengal triggering heavy rain across north Tamil Nadu, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an orange alert for Bengaluru Urban and Rural and the districts of Ramanagara and Chikkaballapura until Tuesday Bengaluru . and the surrounding areas are expected to receive over 100mm of rainfall in the next 48 hours. D a k s h i n a K a n n a d a , U d u p i , S h iv a m o g g a , Chikkamagalur, Hassan, Kodagu, Mysuru and Chamarajanagara districts are expected to receive moderate to heavy rainfall on Monday and Tuesday. The weather is expected to change drastically in the next 48 hours, and cyclonic conditions are set to bring very heavy rainfall with thundershowers to southern interior districts of Karnataka till Wednesday . Following incessant rain across the district, Kolar Deputy Commissioner Akram Pasha declared a holiday for schools and colleges on Monday and said the holiday would be compen, sated for later. He told The New Indian Express that the weather had changed during the course of the day with continuous rain , and a fall in temperature affecting normal life. Meanwhile, traffic on the busy Chennai-Bengaluru highway reduced drastically and a majority of shops in the district downed , shutters early CONTINUED ON P2 . Appointment of NEW BrahMos chief CHALLENGED IN tRIBUNAL MAYANK SIN G H @ New Delhi IN a rare instance, the appointment of BrahMos Aerospace chief has been challenged in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Hyderabad. The leadership dispute comes at a time the organisation is working on the country’s biggest Jaiteerth R Joshi defence supply order to the Philippines. Distinguished Scientist, is The crisis stems from the seven years senior to Joshi appointment of Jaiteerth R and has served as an OutJoshi as Chief Executive Of- standing Scientist since 2017, ficer, a decision contested by a position Joshi currently Sivasubramanyam Nambi holds. With only three years Naidu, alleging he was super- left in service compared to seded during the selection. Joshi’s six, Naidu’s plea is to The case was consider his senfiled on Novemiority and press ber 29 and the clusive experience. f i r s t hear ing The organisatook place on tion is currently November 30. According to engaged in advanced negotiasources, the CAT has sought tions with three to four couna detailed response from tries, with the next stages of DRDO within four weeks and deliveries to the Philippines has scheduled the next hear- also coming up under a $375 ing on December 30. The peti- million contract. These negotioner has made DRDO and tiations are critical for estabJoshi as respondents. lishing India as a reliable deSources said that Naidu, a fence expor ter and the deliberations demand steady leadership to avoid delays. On the domestic front, the Army and Air Force are in the midst of more BrahMos procurements. However, leadership ambiguity raises concerns about meeting these strategic priorities. Alexander Maksichev, codirector of Brahmos Aerospace, recently said active discussions are on with countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam and United Arab Emirates for potential contracts of this missile system. The dispute pits two accomplished scientists against each other. Naidu, a key figure in India’s Prithvi missile programme, is recognised for his managerial expertise at Bharat Dynamics Limited, where he oversaw large-scale missile production. His experience aligns with BrahMos’ operational and expor t ambitions. In contrast, Joshi is known for his contribution to the Long-Range and MediumRange Surface-to-Air Missiles (LRSAM and MRSAM). US President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to impose a 100% tariff on the BRICS bloc nations, which include India, if they try to undermine the US dollar. “The idea that the BRICS countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is over. We require a commitment... that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty US Dollar or, they will face 100 percent Tariffs and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social website. Trump said there is “no chance” BRICS will replace the US dollar in global trade and any country that tries to make that happen “should wave goodbye to America.” The statement comes in the backdrop of the BRICS summit held in October in the Russian city of Kazan discussing ways to boost non-dollar transactions and local currencies. India is not in favour of a common BRICS currency. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has more than once clarified that there is no plan to go for a common BRICS currency . In October, while answering a question on de-dollarisation at an event hosted by Washingtonbased think tank Carnegie Endowment, Jaishankar said India has no policy to target the dollar, adding that it only looks at alternative currencies while dealing with trade partners who do not have access to dollar. In that context, Trump’s message is seen as mainly targeted at Russia and China. net gains for shuttlers lakshya & SINDHU Sen-sational run Lakshya Sen won the Syed Modi International men’s singles title in Lucknow The 23-year-old, who was the No 1 seed, lived up to his billing. He won all his matches in straight games After narrowly missing out on an Olympic medal in Paris, this is a welcome result for him Ag e n c i e s Donald Trump ‘Unrealistic threat’ Trump’s threat is unrealistic, think tank The Global Trade Research Initiative said on Sunday. It said tariffs of this scale would harm the US consumers only as it would push prices on imports, disrupt global trade, and risk retaliation from key partners The topic had come up during the recent summit of the BRICS, where Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the US of “weaponising” the dollar to target rivals. “It’s not us who refuse to use the dollar,” Putin had said at the time. “But if they don’t let us work, what can we do? We are forced to search for alternatives.” Russia is pushing for the creation of a new payment system that would offer an alternative to the global bank messaging network, SWIFT, and allow Moscow to dodge Western sanctions and trade with partners. BRICS is an intergovernmental organisation comprising nine countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.  (With inputs from agencies) Seven Maoists killed in police encounter in TG U M a h e s h @ Mulugu Three cheers PV Sindhu bagged the women’s singles crown with an equally impressive run She beat China’s Wu Luo Yu to lift the trophy for the third time, having also won in 2017 & 2022 Form has evaded her in recent times and this win could spur her to rediscover her old touch | P11 e x p r e ss r e a d Iskcon holds sankirtan for persecuted B’desh Hindus Bengaluru: Following the arrest of Sri Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, a prominent devotee leader and spokesperson for the Bangladesh Sanatan Jagaran Mancha, by Dhaka police, Iskcon organised a Global Sankirtan across the world in solidarity with the persecuted Hindus of Bangladesh, on Sunday. Iskcon Bengaluru also organised a peaceful sankirtan on Hare Krishna Hill to show support for the persecuted minorities in Bangladesh. The event saw participation from renowned spiritual leaders, devotees and well-wishers | P5 US President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday tapped Indian American Kahyap ‘Kash’ Patel, 44, to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). If confirmed, Patel would replace Christopher Wray, who was chosen by Trump in his first term as president in 2017. FBI directors are appointed to 10-year terms to insulate the bureau from politics. A fierce Trump loyalist and a vocal critic of ‘deep state’, Patel is expected to cut down the FBI’s footprint. In a recent interview, he said he would close down the FBI’s headquar ters in Wa s h i n g t o n and “reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state”. He said he send the 7,000-odd employees working in that building across America to chase criminals. Patel served in several posts during Trump’s first term, including as Chief of Staff to Secretary of Defense. A son of Indian immigrants, Patel has commented on the developments in India. Earlier this year, he had voiced support for the Ayodhya Ram Temple. He has also alleged there is a disinformation campaign in Washington targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Seven Maoists were killed in an alleged encounter with t h e Te l a n g a n a Po l i c e i n the Chalpaka forest area of the state’s Mulugu district near the Chhattisgarh border on Sunday morning. Acting on a tip-off about Maoist movement, a search party comprising Greyhounds, a special force unit of the Telangana Police, launched a combing operation in the area. Speaking to the media persons on Sunday, Superintendent of Police P Shabarish said the police encountered a group of 12 to 13 Maoists in olive green uniforms armed with weapons. Despite being warned to surrender, the Maoists opened fire, triggering a retaliatory response in which seven Maoists were killed, the police claimed. The dead were identified as members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), including JMWP DVC and State Committee member Kursam Mangu alias Bhadru, and Egolapu Mallaiah alias Madhu, a Divisional Committee member and Area Commander. Other slain Maoists included Area Committee members Mussaki Deval and Mussaki Jamuna, as well as cadres Jaisingh, Kishore and Kamesh. The police claimed to have recovered two AK-47 rifles, one .303 rifle apart from one shotgun, one country-made revolver, a G3, kit bags, and literature from the encounter spot. The encounter comes amid heightened security and intensified combing efforts in the Maoist-affected areas of Mulugu district after the recent killing of two tribal men in Penugolu village by Maoists, branding them as police informers. Shabarish stated that the combing operations will continue in the forest areas of Eturunagaram, Wazeedu, Peruru, and Venkatapuram.