kozhikode l saturday l october 25, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION MODI obliquely endorses Nitish as Bihar Chief Minister candidate Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the National Democratic Alliance under the leadership of Nitish Kumar will script a record win in Bihar polls PM’s statement comes after Tejashwi jibe Modi’s statement indirectly endorsing Nitish as the NDA’s CM face comes a day after RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Opposition INDIA bloc’s CM candidate, had claimed that the BJP would not let Nitish become CM again. Modi’s stance is in contrast to Union home minister Amit Shah’s recent remark that the NDA would decide on CM after the elections ■ Nov 14 20 yrs of nda rule did NO GOOD: RJD leader ■ Modi said people can’t expect the RJD-Congress to solve any of their problems. “They (RJD-Cong) are a problem by themselves,” he said Meanwhile, Tejashwi alleged there is widespread unemployment and rampant corruption. “Despite 20 years of NDA rule in Bihar, the state’s per capita income is the lowest and farmers remain poor,” he claimed When Bihar Assembly election results will be announced 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 India-US trade deal to be inked very soon: Govt E XPR E SS R E A D HC: Ivory ownership certificate illegal Kochi: The High Court on Friday held that the ownership certificate issued by the state government for two pairs of ivory tusks and 13 ivory artifacts in actor Mohanlal’s possession is illegal. The court issued the order while allowing a plea challenging the action of the government issuing ownership certificates under Section 40(4) of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972. P4 Negotiations concluded, both sides working on the language of the bilateral agreement P U S H P I TA D E Y @ New Delhi Blackstone acquires stake in Federal Bank Mumbai: The largest and oldest private sector bank in Kerala, Federal Bank, on Friday said global private equity major Blackstone has agreed to pick up 9.99% stake in it for Rs 6,196.5 crore. P10 Kurnool Bus Tragedy 20 charred Bus hit a bike and dragged it along, sparks ignited the deadly fire One of the survivors recuperating at a govt hospital in Kurnool | Express Twenty people, including two children and a biker, were charred to death, and several others injured when an AC sleeper bus from Hyderabad to Bengaluru caught fire on NH 44 near Chinnatekuru village in Kurnool district around 3 am Friday | P5 Lured by money, duped by lies: Illegal surrogacy racket exploits women P R A M D A S @ Kochi The social media advertisement promised to ‘Find your surrogate mother in 7 days!’ with the tagline ‘Speed and precision to match you with the surrogate.’ But, as it turns out, behind the polished online posts and promises lurks a network that preys on poor, illiterate women — luring them with offers of quick money to become e gg donors and surrogates. The recent busting of a ring linked to a fertility clinic in Kochi has exposed an illegal assisted reproductive technology (ART) racket flourishing in Kerala. In the police action on MamaMia Life Solutions Pvt Ltd in Edappally, five women from West Bengal and a mother and ‘Exploiting loopholes’ Despite stringent regulations, unlicensed operators exploit loopholes in the system, say police.There are 27 registered Level 1 ART clinics, 83 Level 2 clinics, 23 surrogacy clinics, and 25 ART banks operating legally in the state. her child from Tamil Nadu were rescued and placed in protective custody. The women, all around 25 years old, were reportedly brought to Kerala and persuaded to become either surrogate mothers or egg donors, lured purely by the promise of money Illegal clinics had . p ro m i s e d t h e m b e t we e n `30,000-40,000, but once they arrived they were paid only a meagre sum, Kalamassery police said. Despite stringent regulations, unlicensed operators exploit loopholes in the system. Authorities have so far received four major complaints, resulting in show-cause notices and the cancellation of the licence of MamaMia Life. The police raid followed a c o m p l a i n t f i l e d by t h e additional secretary of the department of health and family welfare, alleging that MamaMia Life, operating under the pretext of a valid licence, had published online advertisements, lured six women from other states with promises of remuneration, brought them to Kerala, confined them unlawfully and carried out unauthor, ised egg retrieval and surrogacy procedures for financial ● More on P4 gain. Despite geopolitical challenges, India and the US are close to concluding a bilateral trade deal, a commerce ministry official said on Friday adding ma, jor differences have been ironed out and both sides are now on the same page on most matters. “We are very near as far as the deal is concerned,” said the official while disclosing that both countries are now working on the language of the trade deal. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, who is in Germany for the Berlin Global Dialogue, had on Thursday said the trade talks were progressing well with both the sides working towards a fair and equitable deal. Speaking to Doordarshan in Berlin, Goyal said, “We are in dialogue with the US; our teams are engaged. We recently had the commerce secretary visit the US and meet his counterparts. We continue to engage with them and talks are progressing. We hope to work towards a fair and equitable agreement in the near future.” However, he reiterated that India “does not do deals with deadlines or with a gun to its head”. So far, India and the US have completed five rounds of talks. A team of Indian delegates from headed by Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal visited Washington last week. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump met in February a target , was set to negotiate a bilateral trade deal by November. However, relations soured as Trump announced a 50% tariff on Indian goods from August onwards as a penalty for buying Russian oil. A US delegation’s visit to India was also cancelled. However, both sides continued talks. The momentum was restored when Brendan Lynch, assistant US trade representative for South and Central Asia, met Indian officials in New Delhi. The proposed pact aims to double the bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. Piyush Goyal ‘No deal with a gun to our head’ Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said India is all for fair trade but it will not do any deal in a hurry. “We do not do deals with deadlines or with a gun to our head,” he said at Berlin Global Dialogue Why single out India? Calling out the West’s double standards on energy trade with Russia, Goyal said several European nations have sought exemption from US oil sanctions while India is being singled out raped by SI Doc writes note in palm, dies by suicide S u d h i r S u ryawa n s h i @ Mumbai A 28-year-old woman doctor working at a government hospital in Phaltan in Satara district of Maharashtra died by suicide late on Thursday night and left a seven-line note on her palm, blaming two police inspectors for her harassment, torture and sexual exploitation. In the note, the doctor accused police sub-inspector Gopal Badane of raping her five times while police inspector Prashant Bankar harassed and mentally tortured her for four months. The note that was spotted during autopsy has been sent for forensic analysis. The victim had briefed her seniors about the harassment but could not get justice; hence she allegedly hanged herself in a hotel room near the Phaltan hospital. District police superintendent Tushar Doshi said a case has been registered against Badane and Bankar, and both placed under suspension. They are absconding. The victim’s relatives accused Badane and his associates of pressuring the doctor to alter medical reports on unnatural deaths and modify reports when arrested persons were brought to the hospital for a medical test. Besides, “one of members of Parliament and his personal assistant (PA) are also responsible for her death. The PA used to call her up and force her to tamper with autopsy reports,” her brother alleged. Capacity overload: Study recommends Taliban to build dam to limit cap on houseboats in Vembanad lake S h a i n u M o h a n @ T’Puram The iconic Vembanad lake — the lifeline of the state’s backwater tourism — is operating far beyond its ecological limits. The lake’s recreational carrying capacity has exceeded by almost 200%, with 926 houseboats currently operating against a permissible limit of 461. A recent study, commis- sioned by the State Wetland Authority Kerala (SWAK), has recommended immediate moratorium on new registrations and strict permit-based controls to protect the Ramsar-listed wetland. SWAK launched the study following a High Court order, based on a petition filed by some houseboat owners and the fishing com- munity against the State Maritime Board granting permission for more vessels to operate. The study, Recreational Carrying Capacity of Vembanad Lake for Sustainable Wetland Tourism, was done with technical assistance from the Centre for Water Research Development ● More on P4 Management.  Everyone’s man Piyush Pandey: The adman who spoke to India in its own language G u rb i r S i n g h @ Mumbai Man dar P ardik ar P iyush Pandey was the odd man out at a RedInk Awards panel discussion soon after Prime Minister Modi was voted in for the first time in 2014. As an advertising creative executive, he didn’t fit into a panel of popular news anchors Rajdeep Sardesai and Arnab Goswami, and Star chief Uday Shankar. Not surprisingly he drew fire , for his catch line: Aab ki Bar, Modi Sarkar — a slogan that moved the anti-incumbency wave. He laughed it off. “We have to deliver the message of our clients. We have nothing to do with politics.” Pandey’s creative campaigns for Ogilvy — the ad agency he started with in 1982 and ended his career and life with at 70 as Chief Creative Officer — grew it to an industry leader even as his creative skills dominated advertising in India for over three decades. He carried his walrus mus- Piyush Pandey 5 Sept 1955-24 Oct 2025 tache, his broad grin and infectious sense of humour everywhere; but it was his pioneering effort in changing Indian advertising from borrowed Western idioms to campaigns rooted in the language of our streets and villages that made him a legend. Remember the Mile Sur Mera Tumhara in 1988? It was a jingle for national integration written by him. It took the country by storm as it worked up a pride for unity in diversity . He also made some big brands daily, household names. Like his 1993 Cadbury’s campaign, Kuch Khaas Hai ham Sabhi Mein, which used local imagery to convince adults there is no sin in enjoying chocolates. The power of ‘gifting’ is another tack Pandey used successfully. He pushed Cadbury (now Mondalez) chocolates as a way to say thank you — Kuch Meetha Ho Jai; as he did with Titan timepieces — ‘The Joy of Gifting’. But who can ever forget Pandey’s incredibly creative Hutch (now Vodafone) campaign with the pug ZooZoo from 2010? The pug was used when ‘Hutch’ was transitioning to ‘Vodafone’; and in a quirky, simple manner the dog symbolised loyalty and connection. The pug campaign became so popular that for years the Chinese ‘pug’ breed became a favourite in India! For his contribution to advertising, Piyush Pandey was awarded the Padma Shri in 2016. He made his mark in advertising using a simple storytelling style. water to Pak J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi IN a move that could have farreaching consequences for Pakistan’s already strained water and energy security, Afghanistan’s Taliban government has said it will build a series of dams on the Kunar River. Taliban’s announcement comes on the heels of India’s decision in April to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack and signals Kabul’s determination to assert its ‘water sovereignty’. According to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Information, Taliban Supreme Leader Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada has ordered the Ministry of Water and Energy to begin dam construction on Kunar “as fast as possible” and award contracts to domestic firms. “The directive reflects Afghanistan’s right to manage its natural resources for the benefit of its people,” Deputy Minister of Information Muhajer Farahi said in a post on X. The decision comes just weeks after deadly clashes along the Durand Line between Afghan and Pakistani border forces.