cre sco dit re kochi l tuesday l march 04, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION Women borrowers grow 22% over the last five years: report The report, released by NITI Aayog CEO B V R Subrahmanyam on Monday, showed bulk of the loans was for meeting consumption demand self-monitoring credit habit sees spike women make up 35% of business loans The report, published by TransUnion CIBIL, Women Entrepreneurship Platform of NITI Aayog and MicroSave Consulting said as of December 2024, 2.7 crore women were monitoring their credit, a 42% spike from the previous year. Women’s share of the total self-monitoring base increased to 19.43% in December 2024, up from 17.89% in 2023, it said ■ ■ The report released on Monday said that among the women borrowers, 60% were from semi-urban and rural areas Since 2019, women’s share in business loan has increased by 14% and their share in gold loans has grown by 6%, with women accounting for 35% of business borrowers by December 2024, the report said 15 crore jobs will be created if women entrepreneurship is promoted 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 Bear children soon, so TN wouldn’t lose seats: CM to couples cargo handling Vizhinjam tops ports in eastern and southern regions in Feb E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @T’Puram The Vizhinjam International Seaport handled the maximum number of cargoes among the 15 ports in the eastern and southern regions of the country in February — 78,833 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) from 40 ships. The port managed more cargo than the Chennai port which led the chart in the region in January . Lauding the achievement, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the port was able to do amazing work just eight months after the trial run and three months after the commencement of commercial operations. “Vizhinjam’s importance in the global maritime arena is increasing. The growth of the port will definitely reflect well in the development of Kerala. The government will move forward with determination to make the Vizhinjam International Port one of the best ports in the world,” he said. Vizhinjam continues to have a busy season with multiple port calls this week. There are at least 24 vessels lined up for docking till March 9. The port has already handled three times more cargo than the original estimates. Pranav Choudhary, CEO of Adani Ports SEZ which operates the Vizhinjam port, had earlier said the number of ships calling at the port is expected to hit 250 soon. The port is on track to become a key hub linking Asia and Europe, especially with Mediterranean Shipping Company’s (MSC) announcement that it will make the port a regular stop by the first week of March. This move will pave the way for larger vessels to dock at Vizhinjam. The port will also begin welcoming ships from Africa in March. express read Shahabaz death: Accused write exam at spl centre Kozhikode: The five students accused in the Shahabaz murder case wrote their SSLC exam on Monday at a specially arranged exam centre inside the Vellimadukunnu Juvenile Home, where they are currently lodged. P5 CPM not to increase no. of state panel members Kollam: Ahead of the CPM state meet beginning on Thursday, state secretary M V Govindan has ruled out any increase in number of state committee members. P4 16 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express Call comes ahead of all-party meet on delimitation Ex p r ess N ews S e rv i c e @ Nagapattinam wildlife Safari Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a lion safari at Gir Wildlife Sanctuary, on the occasion of the World Wildlife Day, in Gujarat’s Junagadh district on Monday | pti U.P. woman on death row in u.a.e. executed on Feb 15 SHE K HAR SINGH @ New Delhi A 33-year-old woman from Uttar Pradesh’s Banda district on death row in the United Arab Emirates was executed on February 15, but it was communicated to the Indian embassy only on February 28, the Ministry of External Affairs told the Delhi High Court on Monday. The submission was made during the hearing of a plea filed by the woman’s father seeking to know her whereabouts. “The authorities are providing all possible assistance; her cremation will be held on March 5,” Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma said, adding that arrangements were being made to enable the woman’s family to travel to Abu Dhabi to perform her last rites. With no legal recourse left, Justice Sachin Datta disposed of the plea, calling the entire episode a “sad and unfortunate” incident. Shahzadi was working as a caregiver in Abu Dhabi when her employer’s infant son passed away on December 7, 2022, after a routine vaccination. Thereafter, a video surfaced showing her confessing to the crime. However, her father alleged it was obtained through torture by her employer. The employer’s family handed her over to the Abu Dhabi police on February 10, 2023. She was sentenced to death on July 31, 2023 and the appellate court dismissed her appeal on February 28, 2024. The MEA said the Indian embassy extended all help including filing mercy petitions. Tamil nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Monday encouraged newly-married couples to bear children as early as possible, referring to the proposed delimitation of parliamentary constituencies that is expected to be done on the basis of population. His comment comes ahead of the March 5 allparty meet he has called for to discuss the issue. Solemnising a wedding organised by DMK’s Nagapattinam district secretary N Gowthaman’s family, Stalin, while winding up his speech with the appeal he usually makes to newlyweds to name their children in Tamil, said, newly married couples were earlier advised to not rush with childbearing. “There is no need to say that now,” he said. “A scenario has currently developed where parliamentary constituM K Stalin, TN encies are Chief Minister delimited on the basis of population and the number of MPs would be higher when the population is high. Hence, I would not ask the couples to postpone their childbearing like in earlier times and, rather, would encourage them to bear children as early as possible,” he said. The DMK and other parties in south India have raised concerns about a proportional loss of representation when delimitation is done, according to the 84th amendment, on the basis of the first census completed after 2026 (the 2021 census has not yet been conducted). With the number of Parliamentary and Assembly seats set to be allocated in proportion to a state’s population, political parties in the south fear that their states, which have slowed population growth, may end up with a smaller share of representation. Rework formula on population skew, says TDP P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi With the d elimitation row intensifying, the NDA government’s key ally Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Monday said the current delimitation formula needs rework to address the concerns of the South. He expressed confidence that the Centre has taken cognizance of the issue, adding Union home minister Amit Shah’s recent ‘pro rata’ statement was a signal in the right direction. TDP parliamentary party leader Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu said the reconfiguration of parliamentary seats based on Lavu Sri Krishna the current census data could drastiDevarayalu cally cut their representation in the Lok Sabha. “If the number of seats is increased on the existing formula of population census, Southern states will lose a considerable number of seats. That will invariably reduce our bargaining power in the foreseeable future in Parliament. We are seeing it after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Our bargaining power has been reduced compared to a big state with big numbers,” he said. Amit Shah had recently assured that after delimitation, on pro rata basis, not a single seat will be reduced in any southern state. “The government needs to rework the formula in such a way that seats are not increased only the basis of population. For example, like they give weightage to economically backward states when distributing central funds,” he said. Urologist George Abraham found dead at farmhouse E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @Kochi Renowned urologist and kidney transplant surgeon George P Abraham, 75, was found hanging at his farmhouse in Nedumbassery near Aluva. The police, who recovered a note from the far mhouse, said he died by suicide. A senior renal transplant surgeon at Kochi’s VPS Lakeshore Hospital, Dr George had performed Kerala’s first cadaver transplant. He was suffering from depression after being diagnosed with various diseases that affected his work, as per the FIR registered at the Nedumbassery police station. The death happened between 7.30 pm and 10.30 pm on Sunday The . suicide note recovered by the police said age has affected his work and that he was missing the job satisfaction of his earlier years. According to hospital sources, he had undergone a spine surgery around six months ago. The death of Dr George, who has performed around 3,600 renal transplant surgeries —the highest in the state — has shock ed the medical fraternity . “One of the thorough gentlemen in the field of urology, a great teacher, surgeon and pioneer in the field of laparoscopic urology We will all miss you,” Dr . A r u n Ku m a r, c o n s u l t a n t urologist and managing director of Asian Institute of Nephrology and Urology, Chennai, posted on X. Dr George, a resident of Elamkulam in Kochi, and his brother Paul reached the former’s f a r m h o u s e at T h u ruthissery near Nedumb a s s e r y o n S u n d ay evening. George later dropped Paul at his residence in Brahmapuram and returned to the farmhouse. However, as George did not reach his house even after 9.30 pm, his relatives started looking for him. Later, they received information that George’s car was parked at the farmhouse. The relatives soon reached there and found him hanging from the handrail of the staircase. With more than 32 years of experience in renal transplant surgery Dr George was honoured by , Health Minister Veena George recently . He is the third surgeon in the world to perform a living donor laparoscopic renal transplant and first in Kerala to perform percutaneous nephrolithotomy a , minimally invasive surgery that removes kidney stones, and a Lap Donor Nephrectomy 3D laparoscopy, a robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgical procedure to remove a kidney from a ● More on P4 living donor.  buch breather hc stays fir against ex-sebi chief Bombay High Court to hear on March 4 pleas by former Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and five others in case of alleged stock manipulation | P8 SC lifts job bar on visually impaired in lower judiciary S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi IN a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that visually impaired persons cannot be denied the opportunity of employment in judicial services and struck down provisions of the Madhya Pradesh Judicial Service Rules that excluded them. The court said, “It is high time that we view the right against disability-based discrimination, as recognised in the RPwD Act (Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act) 2016, in the same stature as a fundamental right, thereby ensuring that no candidate is denied consideration solely on account of their disability .” The court’s two-judge bench, headed by justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, pronounced the judgment on a batch of petitions — including a representation from a visually-impaired candidate’s mother from Madhya Pradesh — for denying quota to these candidates in judicial services of certain states. The candidate’s mother had last year written to the then Separate cut-off CJI challenging a rule in the for candidates Madhya Pradesh Judicial New Delhi: The Supreme Services (Recruitment and Court held that a Service Conditions) Rules that separate cut-off is to prevented visually impaired be maintained and candidates from being apselection made pointed in the state judicial accordingly for visuallyservices. The court converted impaired candidates as the letter into a suo motu petiindicated in line with the tion and decided to hear it. judgment in Indra In the 122-page judgment, Sawhney case. Justice Mahadevan held that visually impaired candidates cannot be said to be ‘not suitable’ for judicial service and they are eligible to participate in selection for posts in judicial service. The verdict said the amendment made in Rule 6A of the Madhya Pradesh Judicial Service (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 1994, “falls foul of the Constitution, and is hence, struck down to the extent that it does not include visually impaired persons who are educationally qualified for the post to apply”. It also said that the provision to Rule 7 relating to additional requirements violated the equality doctrine and the principle of reasonable accommodation. “Any indirect discrimination that results in the exclusion of PwDs, whether through rigid cut-offs or procedural barriers, must be interfered with...,” the court said. Silly point Congress spokesperson gets no (K)Shama for body-shaming Rohit P r e e t h a n a i r @ New Delhi The Congress on Monday distanced itself from its national spokesperson Shama Mohamed’s ‘body shaming’ remarks on India cricket captain Rohit Sharma, saying that the party “does not endorse any statements” that undermine the legacy of sporting icons. A day before India versus Australia Champions Trophy semifinal match in Dubai, a needless controversy erupted after Shama, in her now-deleted post, said Sharma is “fat for a sportsman” and “Need to lose weight! And of course the most unimpressive Captain India has ever had!” And TMC leader Saugata Roy echoed her. The Congress was quick to respond after strong backlash from cricket fans and BJP leaders. In a statement on X, Congress leader Pawan Khera asked Shama to delete her so- cial media posts and exercise greater caution in future. “Dr. Shama Mohammed, National Spokesperson of the Indian National Congress, made certain remarks about a cricketing legend that do not reflect party’s position,” he said. “She has been asked to delete the social media posts from X and has been advised to exercise greater caution in the future. The Indian National Congress holds the contributions of sporting icons in the highest regard and does not endorse any state- The INC holds contributions of sporting icons in the highest regard & does not endorse any statements that undermine their legacy — Pawan Khera, Cong leader What is so world-class about him when compared to his predecessors? He is a mediocre captain as well as a mediocre player — Shama Mohammed, Cong spokesperson ments that undermine their legacy he added. ,” The BJP waded into the controversy accusing the Congress , of ‘body-shaming’ and disrespecting the World Cup cham- pion. Responding to a post praising Sharma, Shama asked what was so world class about him when compared to his predecessors like Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, M S Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Kapil Dev and Ravi Shastri. “What is so world-class about him when compared to his predecessors? He is a mediocre captain as well as a mediocre player who got lucky to be the captain,” she wrote. India vs Australia India are 100 overs away from advancing to their fourth straight ICC final. Australia, however, could be tricky opponents. A look at the the first Champions Trophy semis... Spin it to win it On some tired Dubai decks, India’s spinners have had a lot of fun. They will deploy the same strategy against Australia, who has only one frontline spinner in Adam Zampa. Both teams, however, have depleted pace P11 bowling attacks.  Live: 2.30 PM IST, Dubai