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 ■ ■ BHUBANESWAR l tuesday l december 03, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late CITY EDITION Oppn, govt find common ground, Parl logjam ends Houses have lost almost all working hours due to protests by opposition parties demandTHE government and opposi- ing discussions on various istion parties on Monday agreed sues. The Congress has been to break the week-long Parlia- particularly vocal about the inment deadlock by holding a dis- dictment of Adani Group chaircussion on the Constitution to person Gautam Adani and othcommemorate the 75th anni- er company officials on charges versary of its adoption. of bribery and fraud by The breakthrough was US prosecutors. In adachieved in a meeting dition, intense opposiof floor leaders of varition protests over isous parties with the sues such as the Lok Sabha Speaker, Sambhal violence and where consensus the unrest in Manipur emerged to let both have led to repeated adCongress, Houses function journments in both the TMC differ smoothly from Tuesday Lok Sabha and the RaWhile the onwards. It was also dejya Sabha. Congress is cided to hold debates However, certain opkeen to push on the Constitution in position parties, notathe Adani row bly the Trinamool Conboth Houses. Parliamentary Af- in Parliament, gress, have prioritised the TMC feel fairs Minister Kiren Riother issues over the price rise and jiju later told reporters Adani controversy. that the Lok Sabha unemployment They have called for deare the more would hold discussions bates on unemployon the Constitution on pressing issues ment, price rises, and December 13 and 14, that should be the Centre’s alleged while the Rajya Sabha raised by Oppn bias against oppositionwould conduct the deruled states in fund bates on December 16 and 17. allocation. “The government has agreed Meanwhile, the BJP has acto this,” Rijiju said, adding that cused the Congress of violating he expected parliamentary pro- constitutional norms during ceedings to resume smoothly. its time in power. The BJP has Several opposition leaders who also emphasised that the attended the meeting expressed Narendra Modi government similar optimism. has upheld and strengthened Since the winter session constitutional principles durstarted on November 25, both ing its tenure of over 10 years. RA J E S H K U M AR T HA K UR @ New Delhi Farmers from UP demanding adequate compensation for their lands acquired by the government break through police barricades, in Noida on Monday | Parveen Negi Low food weightage in CPI under new base yr DIPA K M O NDA L @ New Delhi WITH the debate raging over weightage of food inflation in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), government sources said the weightage of food in the index would come down automatically once the new base year is adopted. The National Statistics Office is working on a new base year, which could be 2022-23 or 2023-24 and could kick in by late 2025 or early 2026. Currently, the government uses 2011-12 base year for inflation and GDP calculation. “The debate over the weightage of food items in CPI basket would be over once the new base year is express read Takht orders punishment for Sukhbir Badal Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal was on Monday directed by the five high priests of the Akal Takht to perform as sewadar (guard) at the Golden Temple, wash utensils at the community kitchen and polish shoes of devotees there, as religious punishment for the ‘sins’ committed during his watch as party president between 2007 and 2017. His father Parkash Singh Badal was chief minister of a SAD-BJP coalition government during that period. The SAD was directed to accept Sukhbir’s resignation from presidentship of the party in three days and form a committee to hold fresh elections for SAD’s leadership within six months. The Takht set up a separate panel to oversee the whole process. adopted. The Household Consumption Expenditure Survey report of 2023-24 would be released in a few weeks. After that, we will decide on the base year,” said a senior official. According to the 2022-23 survey the share of food , in household consumption has fallen from 52.90% in 2011-12 to 46.4% in rural areas and from 46.62% to 39.17% in urban areas. The share of cereals from the consumption basket has fallen from 10.69% in 2011-12 to 4.89% in 2022-23 in rural areas and from 6.61% to 3.62% in urban. The 2023-24 survey saw further fall in the share of food items in the consumption basket. Currently, food has a weightage of 44.6% in the combined CPI. Cereals have a weightage of 10%. In October, the retail inflation crossed 6% after 14 months. On the question of why the real inflation for the common man feels much more than the official numbers released, a senior official said the government’s number is arrived at by taking price samples from over 2,500 urban and rural markets across all states, but the general perception of inflation is based on the experience of 4-5 metro cities. Impact on RBI’s target As inflation remains high, there are suggestions to keep food inflation out of RBI’s inflation targeting framework to keep retail inflation at 4% Prospects for rate cut may grow Due to high food inflation, RBI has been deferring interest rate cut since Feb 2023, which has become a point of tiff between govt and RBI Majhi announces task force for SODC E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Monday set the process of formation of South Odisha Development Council (SODC) in motion by announcing a 13-member high-level task force headed by School and Mass Education minister Nityanand Gond to finalise the roadmap and modalities for the body . For mation of SODC and North Odisha Development Council (NODC) was among the top promises of the BJP in the 2024 elections. Announcing the task force, the chief minister said the panel has been mandated to start its work immediately and submit its report within 30 days. The task force will hold discussions with various stakehold- ers and seek their opinion on the contours of the development council which includes its form and jurisdiction. The chief minister said besides the jurisdiction of the SODC, the task force will also give recommendations on the structure of the council and its functioning. The SODC will help in the inclusive development of all sections of people in the areas to be included under its jurisdiction, Majhi said. Other members of the committee include ministers Bibhuti Bhusan Jena and Goku- lananda Mallik, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi, Kandhamal MP Sukant Kumar Panigrahi, Digapahandi MLA Siddhant Mohapatra, Malkangiri MLA Narasingh Madkami, Paralakhemundi MLA Rupesh Kumar Panigrahi, Phulbani MLA Uma Charan Mallik and Pottangi MLA Rama Chandra Kadam. Besides, the task force will have three ex-officio members including revenue divisional commissioners of southern division and central division, and managing director of Western Odisha Development Council. The chief minister had also recently announced during his visit to Rourkela on November 24 that the state government has already started the process of formation of NODC which will be completed within the next two to three months. Sitharaman, Rupani to oversee Maha ‘CM election’ S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai Setting the ball rolling to name its chief ministerial candidate, the BJP’s central parliamentary board on Monday appointed Union finance minister Nir mala Sitharaman and former chief minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani as observers for the first legislative party meeting of the BJP in Maharashtra. The meeting expected on Wednesday would elect its leader, who would possibly take the oath of office as the new chief minister at a ceremony on Thursday at Azad Maidan here in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sources in the Nirmala Shiv Sena said Sitharaman caretaker Chief and Vijay Minister Eknath Rupani Shinde, NCP chief Ajit Pawar and BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis would get into a huddle in Mumbai on Monday and later fly to Delhi to finalise the power-sharing arrangement of the Mahayuti alliance with the BJP’s top leadership. However, no such meeting took place. Shinde, who had returned to Thane after a bout of infection from his native village, Daregaon, in Satara district, once again fell sick and reportedly did not meet even his party leaders on Monday .