express illustration THRISSUR l thursday l september 03, 2026 l `10.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Banks mobilise $127.23 billion in deposits from Indian diaspora: RBI Total forex inflows touch $136.38 billion India attracted $127.23 billion in Foreign Currency Non-Resident deposits under RBI’s special USD-INR forex swap facility till August 31, the closing date Scheme a big hit, closed one month early RBI’s special USD-INR forex swap facility for FCNR (B) deposits, Overseas Foreign Currency Borrowings and External Commercial Borrowings was launched on June 8 as part of efforts to strengthen India’s external sector position and support forex liquidity amid global uncertainties. The measures led to a surge in forex inflows totalling $136.38 billion as on August 31 ■ ■ Under RBI’s the FCNR (B) scheme, Indian banks offered attractive interest rates to mobilise foreign currency deposits The response has been strong enough for the RBI to advance the closure of the FCNR(B) window from September 30 to August 31, having already achieved its objective ahead of schedule FCNR(B) Deposits are foreign-currencydenominated fixed deposits 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 Retd Air Marshal ‘Not suited for progressive Keralam’: Mishra 1st CEO of CM opposes Kanthapuram remarks Ram temple trust E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @T’Puram Govind Dev Giri is the new general secretary; Mahesh Bhagchandka to be the treasurer relative of the late VHP international president, he has also THE Shri Ram Janmabhoomi authored a book on Singhal. Teerth Kshetra Nyas, the trust Madan Mohan Pandey had that manages the Ayodhya tem- been associated with the Ram ple, appointed former Air Mar- Janmabhoomi case in local shal Jeetendra Mishra as its courts and is also associated first chief executive officer at a with the VHP . meeting held on Wednesday . Nirmala Yadav has been asA native of Deoria in Uttar sociated with the RSS. Pradesh, Air Marshal Mishra Air Marshal Mishra is exled the Western Air Command pected to bring in discipline during Operation Sindoor. and management expertise in The Ram temple trust also running the affairs of the Ram appointed for mer temple, search comtreasurer Govind Dev mittee member Giri as general secreSuresh Haware said. tary to fill the post vaHaware is a retired cated by Champat nuclear scientist and Rai, who chose to reformer chief of Shri sign following the doSaibaba Sansthan nation theft scandal. Trust in Shirdi. Among other deciThe other members sions, the trust anof the three-member Jeetendra Mishra nounced three new selection panel are retrustees, including a tired Supreme Court woman. The new trustees are judge Pramod Kohli and retired Delhi-based businessman Ma- L t G e n e r a l Vi s h n u k a n t hesh Bhagchandka, Ayodhya- Chaturvedi. based advocate Madan Mohan The selection panel reviewed Pandey and Nirmala Yadav of , 5,585 applications and held disShikohabad. cussions with 16 candidates. VHP leader Sharad Sharma The final shortlist had three has been appointed the spokes- names, from which the trust man of the trust. picked Air Marshal Mishra. Mahesh Bhagchandka is The other two shortlisted likely to be named treasurer of candidates, according to rethe trust. He is the chairman of ports, were retired Major GenM2K Group and a trustee of the eral Sanjay Pratap Singh Bisht Ashok Singhal Foundation. A and Shruti Hardwari. N A M ITA B A J PA I @ Lucknow back to campus Amid attempts by UDF constituent IUML to downplay Samastha leader Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliyar’s remarks on women, Chief Minister V D Satheesan has come out strongly against the cleric’s position, saying neither the government nor his party would support such views. Satheesan said Kanthapuram’s assertion that great ruin would follow if women entered public platforms and that the Quran called for women to remain indoors was unacceptable. “We do not agree with that statement at all. Moreover, that is not a stance suited for a progressive Keralam. We cannot agree with that position in any manner whatsoever,” the chief minister told reporters in response to a query at a postcabinet media briefing on Wednesday. Describing the position as something suited to the 19th century, Satheesan said it had no place in the 21st century . “Women are not people meant to live confined within four walls. Our progressive stance is that they must participate in all aspects of life and be part of the mainstream,” he said. Satheesan also argued that Kanthapuram’s position was inconsistent with Islamic history and amount- That is not a stance suited for a progressive Keralam. We cannot agree with that position in any manner whatsoever — V D Satheesan, CM ed to a misinterpretation of Islam. He cited Khadija, the Prophet’s first wife, whom he described as a prominent businesswoman, as well as Aisha, another wife of the Prophet, who, he said, served as the supreme commander in the Battle of the Camel. He also referred to Queen Bilqis mentioned in Islamic history “A woman run. ning a business, a woman who was a supreme commander, a woman who was a queen — all this exists in Islamic history,” he said.Satheesan also referred to the historical account of an incident involving Caliph Umar and the issue of mahr (dower).  ● More on P4 express read Power regulation in force in state Kochi: Keralam may witness power outages at nights this week as the national grid has reported a sharp decline in power availability even as consumption in the state saw a gradual increase due to hot and humid conditions. P4 Tankers drawing mountain water as the water pipeline network was washed away in the recent flash floods across Nuwakot and Rasuwa districts of Nepal | S V Krishna Chaitanya Health crisis looms as water grid collapses monitoring, E. coli tests,” a WHO official said. The government is using portable With thousands feared dead or miss- water-testing kits, with support from ing and large parts of Nuwakot and WHO and UNICEF, as WASH (Water, Rasuwa buried under mud and de- Sanitation and Hygiene) intervenbris, Nepal is confronting tions are expanded across a second emergency in the affected areas. form of a health crisis. The water crisis is parKeeping survivors safe is ticularly serious in Nuwabecoming a challenge as Ground Zero kot and Rasuwa because drinking-water systems settlements depend on a Nepal seeks have completely collapsed, network of mountain rivglobal climate sanitation infrastructure ers and streams. The reparation is destroyed and access to Bhote Koshi and Trishuli healthcare is disrupted. are the principal river Nepal’s PM Te a m s f ro m Wo rl d system through the disBalendra Shah on H e a l t h O r g a n i z at i o n tricts, fed by tributaries Wednesday (WHO) Nepal and Minisincluding the Salankhu blamed the flash try of Health and Family and Falakhu. Further floods on climate Welfare are visiting temdownstream, the Trishuli change. “There is a porary holding and sheljoins the Narayani system global contribution ter centres to check survibefore entering India as behind climate vors for signs of disease the Gandak. change. And the spread. Authorities have Here, the drinking waresponsibility to also begun regular testing ter pipelines feeding thoumanage and of drinking-water sources sands of people are comminimise its for E. coli, an indicator of pletely destroyed. effects also rests faecal contamination. In Bidur Municipality, on the global Tsering Gurung, Comthe biggest local body in community” | P9 munication Officer at Nuwakot, the main drinkWHO Nepal, said WHO is ing-water system serving working closely with the Ministry of nearly 6,000 households has been Health and Food Safety, “to assess damaged. Around 7-8 km of pipelines emerging health needs and coordi- have been destroyed, while about 20 nate the health sector response to this smaller water-lifting schemes serving emergency”. scattered settlements have also been Continued on: P9 “Basically, we are doing regular affected.  S V KRISH N A CH A ITA N YA Modi to visit Delhi’s SRCC in Gen Z pitch @ Rasuwa (Nepal) I f r a h M u f t i @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address students at Delhi’s Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC)—a campus that once marked his national rise—on September 5 on the occasion of Teachers’ Day . The proposed visit to the college, which is celebrating its centenary year, comes amid the BJP’s ongoing outreach efforts to draw young voters to the party In the wake of the . recent students’ protests and growing discontent among youngsters over education reforms to employment, party leaders have turned their focus to wooing first-time voters through campus interactions and digital platforms Just three weeks ago, Modi had addressed the convocation ceremony at IIT Delhi, where he interacted with graduating students and positioned Narendra Modi youth as central to India’s future. The upcoming interaction at SRCC is expected to carry a similar tone, but in a more conversational campus setting. Modi last visited SRCC in 2013 as Gujarat chief minister. His speech then drew a packed audience and marked one of his early high-profile engagements with students in Delhi. Over a decade later, his return to SRCC comes at a time when campuses are more politically aware and digitally active, with student engagement often spilling into social media. The official confirmation of PM’s SRCC visit is awaited. 26 in ‘26: Deceased organ donations go up in state A N N A J O S E @T’Puram Keralam recorded 26 deceased organ donations in the eight months of 2026, its highest in recent years. This is also the second straight year that the state has recorded over 20 deceased organ donations, signalling renewed public confidence in the process. The latest was on Saturday Au, gust 29, when a 65-year-old man’s organs, kidneys and liver were donated after he was declared brain dead at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. donations over the years 76 deceased organ donations were recorded in 2015, the highest ever in the state 2020 21 2021 17 2022 14 2023 19 2024 11 2025 25 2026 26 (Until August) Dr Noble Gracious, the executive director of Kerala Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (K-SOTTO), attributed the recent rise to multiple factors, including increased public awareness. “We were able to create awareness among the public. We continue receiving inquiries about donating organs from students and people from across the state,” said Dr Noble Gracious. K-SOTTO is the nodal agency that coordinates organ donations in the state. He said recent examples of 6-month-old Aalin Sherin, the state’s youngest donor, helped citizens realise that organ donation was a social responsibility. “People realise that organ donation can help several people and their families. Moreover, there is now greater public awareness that deceased organ donation is preferable to living organ donation,” he said. Kerala had registered the highest deceased organ donations in 2015 at 76. The following year, the number dropped slightly to 72. Post the pandemic, the donations plummeted to 17 in 2021 and 14 in ● More on P4 2022.  Isaac cites arrogance for CPM poll debacle Kochi: In a rare acknowledgement of the party’s internal shortcomings, CPM central committee member T M Thomas Isaac has admitted that a decade in power had allowed arrogance to take root within the party, leaving it disconnected from public sentiment. P4 BrahMos board shake-up on cards J a v a r i a Rana @ New Delhi Sixteen months after BrahMos missiles were battletested during Operation Sindoor, the Indian side is examining a proposal to restructure the Indo-Russian joint venture (JV) behind the supersonic cruise missile, including changes to its board and a plan to bring more engineering and R&D work in-house, sources familiar with the matter said. The proposal looks at dropping DRDO’s Director General (Missiles and Strategic Systems) from the Indian side of the BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd board and setting up a dedicated engineering team within the company Sources said it also en. visages splitting the Chairman of BrahMos Aerospace and Director General (BrahMos) roles into two separate posts. The Russian side’s representation is proposed to remain unchanged. The proposed restructuring comes as BrahMos scales up to meet a sharp rise in domestic orders and exports. The Philippines, BrahMos’s first overseas customer, began receiving the missiles in 2024, while Indonesia and Vietnam have emerged as new buyers. Negotiations with the UAE are also gaining momentum. Production has been ramped up. The BrahMos integration and testing facility in Lucknow has added around 20% to the programme’s overall production capacity, supplementing existing lines in Hyderabad, Pilani and Thiruvananthapuram.