SAMBALPUR  SATURDAY  DECEMBER 28, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 12  CITY EDITION FORMER SUZUKI MOTOR CHAIRMAN OSAMU SUZUKI PASSES AWAY AT 94 Suzuki, who grew small-car manufacturer Suzuki Motor into an international brand with huge success in India, passed away on Wednesday Osamu Suzuki REVOLUTIONISED INDIA’S CAR MARKET He passed away on December 25 due to malignant lymphoma, according to information shared by Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corporation on Friday. Suzuki is credited for taking a big risk by partnering with the then Indian government in 1981 to form a joint venture, Maruti Udyog Ltd, when India was a closed economy. The move revolutionised India’s car market 40% PROVED SMALL CARS CAN GIVE BIG BUSINESS focused on building light-weight ‘kei’ vehicles, many of which became big hits for their fuel efficiency and easy-to-handle quality ■ Under the charismatic businessman’s four-decade leadership through 2021, Suzuki Motor’s sales grew more than 10-fold to 3 trillion yen ■ Calling himself an “old man at a small business”, Osamu Suzuki CURRENT MARKET SHARE OF MARUTI SUZUKI IN INDIA’S CAR MARKET 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 Cremation today amid party’s Rural, urban push for separate resting place consumption HOUSEHOLD SURVEY 2023-24 Funeral at 11.45 am at Delhi’s Nigambodh Ghat crematorium, says home ministry MODI AMONG FIRST TO PAY HOMAGE Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was among the first ones to pay homage to Singh and lay a wreath on Friday, said the death was a big loss and the nation lost an able statesman Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays his last respects to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, in New Delhi on Friday | PTI P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi AHEAD of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s final rites with full state honours, the Congress on Friday requested the Union government for a resting place for him along the banks of the Yamuna in Delhi, where many former PMs have their memorials. However, sources said that the Centre told the Congress brass to conduct the funeral at the Nigambodh Ghat crematorium on Saturday as scheduled while it will consider the request for a memorial later. Congress sources said they had no option other than to proceed with the plan announced by the Union home ministry . In his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kharge said: “Apropos our telephonic conversation today morning, wherein I made a request to hold Dr Singh’s last rites, which will take place tomorrow at his final resting place that would be a sacrosanct venue for a memorial of the great son of India. This is in keeping with such tradition of having memorials of statesmen and former Prime Ministers at the very place of their funerals.” However, a communication from the Ministry of Home Affairs said Singh’s last rites will be conducted at 11.45 am on Saturday at the Nigambodh Ghat crematorium with state honours. Significantly it was the UPA , government headed by Singh that decided in 2013 that there He left his imprint on our national life. The nation has lost an eminent statesman, renowned economist and a distinguished leader Union Cabinet resolution would be no separate memorials for VVIPs in Delhi and decided to have a common complex for memorials of departed national leaders like Presidents, Vice Presidents and Prime Ministers. However, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh kept up the pressure, wondering why the government could not find a location for his cremation and memorial befitting of his stature. “This is nothing but a deliberate insult to the first Sikh Prime Minister,” he alleged. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi described Manmohan Singh’s demise as a “deeply personal loss”. A condolence resolution passed by the Congress Working Committee said he was a towering figure in India’s political and economic landscape whose contributions transformed the country and earned him respect worldwide. MANMOHAN SINGH BELIEVED IN GROWTH WITH EQUITY KAPIL SIBAL Member of Rajya Sabha D R Manmohan Singh belongs to an era when politicians were respected for allowing institutions to flourish. It is not as if there were no aberrations in the past. By and large, the spirit of the Constitution was honoured by those in power. Even when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister (19992004), he respected and heard the voice of the opposition. Narasimha Rao, on one occasion, requested Vajpayee, who was the Leader of Opposition at the time, to lead a delegation to the UN. It was during those years that Manmohan Singh, from being a bureaucrat, who served the nation in several capacities, became the Prime Minister in 2004. The opening up of the Indian economy when a radical , S KOREA IMPEACHES SECOND PRESIDENT IN 2 WEEKS South Korean lawmakers impeached acting president Han Duck-soo on Friday, sinking the country even deeper into political crisis two weeks after his predecessor was suspended | P9 shift was made in 1991, by Singh as Finance Minister with India’s balance of payments in deep crisis. His economic liberalisation policy paved the way for what India is today Every sector of the . economy moved away from the license quota raj and from a 3.3% growth rate prior to 1991, we in the 1990s witnessing India’s GDP growing at 6%. Between 2004 and 2014, GDP growth averaged 7.7% with 8.1% average growth between 2004 and 2009. Those were golden years, when India’s growth story was lauded internationally and 271 million people moved above the poverty line. Economic growth during these years was tempered with equity. Singh believed that growth without equity is not , the path India should tread. His commitment to Parliament and Parliamentary institutions was unmatched. He sat through the debates, listening to the opposition and attempted, to the extent possible, to move forward with consensus. He did not have the luxury of a brute majority in the Lok Sabha and therefore, had to navigate his policies through dialogue both with his coalition partners and the opposition. The dialogues, with his coalition partners, allowed him to make some monumental decisions. The Right to Information Act, 2005, brought about enormous transparency in the process of decision making. With information available to citizens, government could be held accountable, making transparency a policy prescription. The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, allowed 25% of children belonging to the poor and marginalised communities to be admitted to private schools where their education was subsidised from Class I to Class VIII. These changes in many senses recognised that unless people at the bottom of the pyramid have opportunities, India will continue to be an iniquitous society . CONTINUED ON: P7 PERSONAL LOSS, SAYS SONIA Terming his death a “personal loss”, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Friday said Singh was her friend, philosopher and guide. She said Singh leaves a void in the national life that can’t be filled SINGH’S FINAL PROCESSION AT 9.30 AM On Saturday, his mortal remains will be taken to AICC HQ at 8 am, where party cadre and the public can offer tributes. The final procession to the cremation ground will depart at 9.30 am CHAMPION OF INDO-U.S. TIES: BLINKEN US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Singh was one of the greatest champions of US-India strategic partnership who brought the two countries closer A STATESMAN LIKE NO OTHER: PUTIN Russian President Vladimir Putin described former prime minister Manmohan Singh as an outstanding statesman who elevated IndiaRussia ties to greater heights gap narrows D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi THE gap between urban and rural consumption narrowed as the average monthly per capita consumption expenditure grew 9% in nominal term in rural areas and 8% in urban areas in 2023-24, the latest household consumption data released by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed. The gap between urban and rural consumption declined to 70% in 2023-24 from 71% in the previous year. The household consumption survey was conducted from August 2023 to July 2024. According to the new data, monthly consumption expenditure in current prices was `4,122 in rural areas and `6,996 in urban areas in 2023-24. In the previous year, the average monthly consumption expenditure was `3,773 in rural areas and `6,549 in urban. In real terms (2011-12 price), the increase in both rural and urban consumption is only 3.5% to `2,079 and `3,632, respectively . This paper had on December 3 reported the household consumption expenditure survey report of 2023-24 would be released soon. The government was awaiting the consumption data as it has to decide the new base year for calculating economic data such as GDP and inflation. The new base year could be either 2022-23 or 2023-24. The Consumer Price Index basket would also be changed accordingly. It is likely that the weightage of food in CPI basket will be aligned based on the consumption survey report. Currently food has a weightage of 44.6% in the com, bined CPI, which tracks the retail inflation. Average MPCE for major states STATE Kerala Tamil Nadu Telangana Andhra Karnataka Odisha Uttar Pradesh Maharashtra RURAL 6,611 5,701 5,435 5,327 4,903 3,357 3,481 4,145 URBAN 7,783 8,165 8,978 7,182 8,076 5,825 5,395 7,363 ( MPCE: Monthly per-capita consumption expenditure) PAKISTAN-based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki, a key figure in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 174 people and injured over 300, on Friday died of a heart attack in Lahore, Pakistan. He was 70 years old and had been undergoing treatment for diabetes. He was the brother-in-law of Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed and the deputy chief of the banned Jamaatud-Dawa (JuD). According to the JuD, Makki had been ill for the past few days and was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Lahore. “Makki suffered a cardiac arrest early this morning and he breathed his last in the hospital,” news agency PTI quoted a JuD official as saying. In 2020, Makki was handed six months-imprisonment in a E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bhubaneswar ODISHA chief secretary Manoj Ahuja is set for a longer tenure with the appointments committee of the cabinet on Friday extending his service period for one year from January 1, 2025. Ahuja was due to retire on December 31. The extension of the chief secretary’s service period has come ahead of the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to be hosted in Bhubaneswar from January 8 to 10, and Utkarsh Odisha: Make-in-Odisha conclave from January 28-29. Both are two most important events in the 2025 calendar of the BJP government in the state. The 1990-batch Odisha cadre IAS officer was appointed as the chief secretary on June 29, 2024. He took the charge from Pradeep Kumar Jena on July 1. Prior to his appointment as the 46th chief secretary of Odisha, Ahuja was on central deputation. He was repatriated to the parent cadre on the request of the state government. A Haryana native, Ahuja is the first officer from outside Odisha to serve as the chief secretary of the state after a gap of nearly 39 years. The last non-Odia chief secretary was Gian Chand, who held the position from April 1983 to December 1985. 570 acre land meant for oustees of Chandaka goes missing in records! S U D A R S A N M A H A R A N A @ Bhubaneswar SUSPECTING encroachment of a staggering 570 acre earmarked for rehabilitation of families relocated from Chandaka wildlife sanctuary on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, the forest department has asked Bhubaneswar tehsildar for immediate identification and updation of database of the land patches. Sources said, the lands do not reflect in the name of their actual owners in Bhulekh portal of the Revenue department and could have been transacted illegally . Sources in the Wildlife wing said about 569.61 acre land, including 197 acre classified as forest kisam, had been identified in Krushnanagar, Bhuasuni and Tulsadeipur mouzas of Bhubaneswar tehsil for rehabilitation of around 586 families to be relocated from a Gadjit village comprising Dholkath, Naukua, Behentasahi, Pithakhia and Dahangigadia hamlets within Chandaka wildlife sanctuary during 1998. The families included 455 residing in Gadjit villages and 131 Despite completion of pattas and land settlement, the beneficiaries cannot find the record of rights (patta) in their names. It also does not reflect in the Bhulekh portal of the Revenue department Sources encroachers. Till 2008, about 137 families could be rehabilitated in three phases by the Forest department as per a rehabilitation scheme worked out by the Chandaka wildlife division in 1993. The rehabilitated families received about 6.85 acre homestead and 214 acre agricultural land. The land settlement for the same was also completed by June 2013. However, sources said, despite completion of pattas and land settlement, the beneficiaries cannot find the record of rights (patta) in their names. It also does not reflect in the Bhulekh portal of the Revenue department. In some cases, the pattas handed over to the oustees are in the name of others in the Bhulekh portal. Mumbai attack plotter Abdul Makki dies of heart attack AGENCIES Chief secy Manoj Ahuja’s tenure extended by 1 year terror financing case by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan. However, another court in Pakistan commuted this to a paltry fine of `50,000. After this incident, however, Makki h a d b e e n ke e p i n g a l ow profile. In 2023, Makki was designated as a global terrorist by the United Nations, subjecting him to an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. A vocal critic of India, Makki had made several provocative speeches threatening to seize Kashmir by force. The Forest department suspects large-scale encroachment by the mafia and land sharks as other than the 220.85 acre handed over to the rehabilitated families, the remaining 349 acre land does not reflect in the division’s record, though the same had been brought under its control. With real estate business at its peak in Bhubaneswar and its periphery, the Chandaka division officials do not rule out land grab by property sharks as their value would be in hundreds of crores of rupees. The kisam of the land are primarily gochara, patita, puratan gochar, chota jungle and road. Sources said the division has asked Bhubaneswar tehsildar to immediately re-identify all the 569.61 acre and sought record update of the land already handed over to the beneficiaries. The rest must be handed back to Chandaka wildlife division after clearing them of encroachment so that genuine beneficiaries can be allocated the land as per the new rehabilitation scheme of the state government. EXPRESS READ Crop loss leads to farmer death, fuels local protest Man plots self abduction, killed by friend Jagatsinghpur: Death of a farmer, allegedly due to shock in the aftermath of crop loss, has added fuel to the wave of protests by the farming community already under distress due to the damage caused by the unseasonal rains in Jagatsinghpur. Dhruba Charan Swain, a 60-year-old farmer from Chandpura village in Bansha Panchayat died after his paddy crop was damaged by the heavy showers | P4 Bhubaneswar/Mayurbhanj: A 32-year-old man who ‘plotted’ his fake abduction to extort `50 lakh from his parental uncle was allegedly murdered by his accomplice over sharing of the ransom money in a bizarre twist of events in Mayurbhanj district.The deceased was identified as Chandan Kumar Swain of Kendrapara’s Hindulia. Swain, police said, was alleged murdered by his friend Ashish Singh | P4