FREE PRESS - VOL. 11 NO. 357 | BHOPAL | THURSDAY | JUNE 9, 2022 | PAGES 14 WWW.FREEPRESSJOURNAL.IN Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; EDIT RBI RAISING KEY RATES, DIALING DOWN GROWTH SIGNALS MORE hikes No BJP ticket to Pankaja The BJP on Wednesday declared five candidates for the upcoming polls to 10 seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, but the name of former minister Pankaja Munde, daughter of BJP stalwart the late Gopinath Munde, did not figure in the list. Cycling team recalled The Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Wednesday decided to call the entire Indian cycling contingent back from Slovenia after a female cyclist accused chief coach R K Sharma of "inappropriate behaviour" during the training-cumcompetition trip. 42,000 kg drugs destroyed The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) destroyed 42000 kg of narcotics at 14 locations across the country, informed the officials on Wednesday. Man held for triple talaq A man was arrested allegedly for demanding dowry and pronouncing triple talaq against his wife in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, a police official said on Wednesday. Infighting in Bengal BJP In the midst of the ongoing visit by BJP national president J P Nadda the infighting in the party's West Bengal unit came out in the open on Wednesday with its vice-president Raju Banerjee claiming he was not invited to the state executive meeting. 3 PFI activists arrested The Uttar Pradesh police on Wednesday arrested three people associated with the Popular Front of India in connection with the Kanpur violence, taking the total number of arrests in the case to 54, a senior official said. Pak drone drops heroin, 4 arrested AGENCIES Jaipur The Border Security Force (BSF) has arrested four smugglers and recovered 3.5 kg of heroin from them in Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan on the IndoPak border. The market value of the seized heroin is said to be around Rs 15 crore. This heroin was thrown into the Indian territory by a Pakistani drone on Tuesday . The BSF is interrogating the arrested smugglers. This is the second major incident of drugs being caught on the border in the last one week. Earlier also drug was dropped into India by using drones. According to information, this consignment of drugs was recovered from the Khayaliwala check post located in Gajsinghpur police station area. The BSF acted on the input of its branch in the early hours of Tuesday. AGENCIES Mumbai RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das addresses a press conference at RBI headquarters, in Mumbai, on Wednesday PTI above the central bank's upper tolerance limit. "Inflation has steeply increased much beyond the upper tolerance level (of 6 per cent)," RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said while announcing the bimonthly monetary policy . "Upside risks to inflation as highlighted in last policy meetings have materialised earlier than expected." The RBI raised its inflation forecast for the current fiscal (April 2022 to March 2023) to 6.7 per cent from 5.7 per cent earlier on the expectations of prices As inflation continues to remain above its comfort level, the Reserve Bank of India increased the repo rate by 50 basis points to 4.90% with immediate effect staying above the 2-6 per cent tolerance band in the first three quarters (till December-end). The law mandates that the central bank will have to explain in writing to the government the reasons for failing to keep inflation within the targeted band if prices were to stay above 6 per cent for three straight quarters. It also has to suggest remedial measures to bring prices under control. To balance the inflationgrowth dynamics, Das said RBI will remain focused on the withdrawal of accom- De-board passengers who refuse to wear face mask on plane: DGCA to airlines NEW DELHI Airlines must de-board any passenger before departure if they refuse to wear face mask inside an aircraft even after being warned, aviation regulator DGCA said on Wednesday . Besides, airport operators must take help of the local police and security agencies and levy fines on people not wearing face masks, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a circular. The circular followed a Delhi High Court order of June 3 which said the "DGCA should issue separate binding directions to all staff persons deployed at the airports and in the aircraft, including flight attendants, air hostesses, captains/pilots and others, to take strict action against passengers and others who violate the masking and hygiene norms". All such persons as are found violating the norms must be fined and persistent defaulters must be placed on the no- fly list, the court had said. The DGCA's Wednesday circular said airlines must ensure the passengers wear masks properly on flights and they are removed from faces only "under exceptional circumstances and for permitted reasons". If a passenger needs an extra face mask, the airline must provide it, it noted. "The airline shall ensure that in case any passenger does not adhere to above instructions even after repeated warnings, he or she should be deboarded, if need be, before departure," it said. CONTD. ON P6 modation as system liquidity continues to remain above pre-pandemic levels. However, withdrawal of accommodation will be done in a way that growth will continue to get adequate support, he added. "We have dropped the word (accommodative) but we remain accommodative and that is mainly to give more clarity to the market," he said. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), however, retained its economic growth projection at 7.2 per cent. While food, energy and commodity prices remain elevated, it suggested that most of the excess inflation is due to global/supply-side factors. Retail inflation in April accelerated to 7.79 per cent from a year earlier. Das said 75 per cent of the 100 bps increase in the inflation forecast is on account of a spike in food prices which are due to the war in Ukraine. Now, use Rupay credit card for UPI payments OUR BUREAU New Delhi The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday approved the linking of credit cards to UPI platforms, beginning with Rupay cards. Until now, only debit cards connected to savings bank accounts and current accounts were allowed to link up with the UPI platform. "... The basic objective of linking credit cards to UPI is to provide a customer (with) a wider choice of payments,'' Reserve Bank Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar told reporters. CONTD. ON P6 Nearly 41 pc jump in Covid cases INDIA LOGS 5,233 new infections NEW DELHI India witnessed a leap of nearly 41 per cent in the daily Covid cases on Wednesday as the country logged 5,233 new infections in the last 24 hours, informed Union ministry of health and family welfare. On Tuesday India had re, ported 3,714 Covid cases. This increase is believed to be led by the surge in Covid cases in Maharashtra. The state reported 1,881 new coronavirus cases last evening, which is the highest since February 18. With this surge in Covid cases, the active caseload in the country stands at 28,857, constituting 0.07 per cent of India's total positive cases. The daily and weekly positivity rates have also seen a surge. The daily positivity rate was observed to be 1.67 per cent in the last 24 hours, while the weekly positivity rate was recorded to be 1.12, the Health Ministry informed. As per the Ministry's data, the daily positivity rate on Tuesday was 1.21 per cent and the weekly positivity rate was 0.97 per cent. CONTD. ON P6 Centre hikes MSP for kharif crops AGENCIES New Delhi The government on Wednesday hiked the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy by Rs 100 to Rs 2,040 per quintal for 2022-23 crop year in order to encourage farmers to bring more area under the crop and boost their income. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the increase in MSPs for all 14 kharif (summer) crops for 2022-23 crop year. "Government has increased the MSP of kharif crops for 2022-23, to ensure remunerative prices to the growers for their produce and to encourage crop diversification," an official statement said. Briefing media, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said the Modi government has taken several steps from 'beej se bazaar tak' (seed to market) that has helped increase income of farmers. SEE BUSINESS PAGE India and Vietnam on Wednesday inked a vision document to further broadbase the "scope and scale" of defence ties by 2030 and sealed a logistics support pact to allow militaries of the two sides to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies. The signing of the two documents after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's "fruitful" talks with his Vietnamese counterpart General Phan Van Giang in Hanoi, is seen as a major upswing in IndiaVietnam strategic ties amid common concerns over China's increasing muscle-flexing in the South China Sea. CONTD. ON P6 LONDON rience nightmares and bad dreams more frequently than adults in the general population, but using nightmares as a risk indicator for Parkinson's has not previously been considered. "Although it can be really beneficial to diagnose Parkinson's disease early , there are very few risk indicators and many of these require expensive hospital tests or are very common and non-specific, such as diabetes," said lead author Dr. Abidemi Otaiku from the University of Birmingham, UK. "While we need to carry out further research in this area, identifying the significance of bad dreams and nightmares could indicate that individuals who experience changes to their dreams in older age Â- without any obvious trigger Â- should seek medical advice," Otaiku added. CONTD. ON P6 Al-Qaeda should stay in limits, says MP home minister BHOPAL Responding to Al-Qaeda's threat to launch suicide attacks across the country, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Wednesday said those thinking to attack India should know that they would be erased. The terrorist outfit's threat comes in the wake of a controversy triggered by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma's "offensive" comments on Prophet Muhammad. Mishra said that no terrorist organisation would be tolerated in India. "The country is safe under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Those thinking to attack India should know that they would be erased," Mishra said while talking to reporters in Indore. The minister said: "AlQaeda should stay in its limits. If it is thinking about attacking India, it shall be eliminated." CONTD. ON P6 Ticket aspirants to 'vouch' for loyalty as Cong devises novel plan TICKET SEEKERS cannot betray if denied candidature OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in Facing a litmus test in the run-up to civic bodies polls, Congress leadership in Madhya Pradesh has embarked upon a 'novel idea' to prevail over the ticket aspirants not to betray the party in case they are denied tickets. As per party leaders, the party is asking seekers of tickets for corporators' posts to give an undertaking in writing that they would not contest as Independent candidates even if they are denied tickets. The party is doing this, as per party leaders, as there are a number of aspirants for tickets from almost every part of the state while, as is obvious, only one person can be fielded for the post of corporator Uma once again takes on Shivraj India, Vietnam to use each other's bases govt on liquor issue NEW DELHI Sunrise : 05.41 Sunset : 07.10 RUN-UP TO CIVIC BODY POLLS Defence Minister Rajnath Singh with Vietnam’s Minister of National Defence General Phan Van Giang during a bilateral meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Wednesday PTI Bad dreams in older adults could signal onset of Parkinson's: Study Older adults who start to experience bad dreams or nightmares could be exhibiting the earliest signs of Parkinson's disease, according to a study . The study, published in eClinicalMedicine, showed that in a cohort of older men, individuals experiencing frequent bad dreams were twice as likely to be later diagnosed with Parkinson's as those who did not. Previous studies have shown that people with Parkinson's disease expe- 40.70c. 26.00c MISSION WORLD PEACE! Pg-14 RBI increases repo rate, EMIs to rise Home, auto and other loan EMIs will rise after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday raised the key interest rate by 50 basis points, the second increase in five weeks, to rein in a rise in prices that was seen continuing to hurt consumers in the near term. The increase in lending rate or the repurchase rate (repo) by 50 bps -- the biggest in more than a decade -- to 4.90 per cent comes on the back of a 40 bps hike last month at an unscheduled meeting that kicked off the tightening cycle. Simultaneously, the pandemic-era accommodative stance was dropped, which meant more hikes may be in the offing to tame inflation that since the start of the year has been hovering WEATHER EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE FOR 24X7 UPDATES News Brief `3 QUALITY AT VALUE RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 BHOPAL Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti has once again opened a front against the Shivraj government on the issue of sale of liquor in residential colonies. In fresh agitation, Bharti on Tuesday night sat in front of a liquor shop in Bhopal to protest against sale of liquor. Bharti's action surprised a large gathering of people who had gathered to buy liquor from a wine shop located near Ashima Mall in the Misrod police station area. She along with her supporters sat in protest, which prompted the owner to down the shutter of the shop. Local police rushed to the spot. After a half-an-hour protest, Bharti left the spot after warning the police officials and the liquor shop owners that she will come back in the next three days and will protest throughout the night. "I oppose the state government's decision to open liquor shops at public places. CONTD. ON P6 from a ward in the city or town. However, this is not the first time that Congress has taken the oath route to ensure party workers not getting the tickets don't desert the party at the last moment. During the state assembly elections in 2018 party leadership had applied the same formula on ticket seekers. However, they were not supposed to give it in writing. They were to take oath verbally in certain meetings. State Congress spokesperson KK Mishra said this was being done to ensure that those denied tickets should understand the situation and support the party candidate whoever he or she might be. Taking a dig at the Congress'step, state BJP secretary Rajneesh Agrawal said, "This all shows frustration in Congress camp and lack of trust in party workers on part of the Congress leadership." Intelligence agencies tracing origin of letter NEW DELHI: Intelligence agencies are working to trace the origin of a letter reportedly written by the Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), in which the terror outfit warned of carrying out 'suicide bombings' in the metro cities to avenge the 'insulting' remarks against Prophet Muhammad made by two now suspended BJP spokespersons. The agencies suspect that the terror outfit might provoke the youth to join its anti-India agenda on this pretext. Indore tops in smart cities again OUR STAFF REPORTER / Indore Known for many firsts, the cleanest city of India, Indore once again topped in the country in All India Smart Cities Rankings. Indore Smart City Development Limited executive director and municipal commissioner Pratibha Pal said that Indore Smart City has secured first place in the overall ranking of the works being done in different categories in all the smart cities of the country . Indore Smart City CEO Rishabh Gupta said that under the Smart City Project, the works being done in various smart cities of the country is continuously monitored by the Central government, under which the prevailing work under the Smart City Project, the financial arrangement of the work, completion, quality of work and other works. The Indore Smart City secured 124.94 points in the overall ranking of works being done by it in different categories of 140 marks under SCM, NIP OOMF, SCAF, , TULIP and secured first position. CONTD. ON P6 India rejects Environment Performance Index, 2022 COUNTRY RANKED lowest among 180 nations NEW DELHI The Union environment ministry on Wednesday rebutted the Environmental Performance Index 2022, which ranked India at the bottom of a list of 180 countries, saying some of the indicators it used are "extrapolated and based on surmises and unscientific methods". The index published recently by the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia University used 40 , performance indicators across 11 categories to judge countries on climate change performance, environmental health and ecosystem vitality . "The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2022 released recently has many indicators based on unfounded assumptions. Some of these indicators used for assessing performance are extrapolated and based on surmises and unscientific methods," the ministry said in a statement. "A new indicator in the climate policy objective is 'projected GHG emissions levels in 2050'. This is computed based on the average rate of change in emission of the last 10 years instead of modelling that takes into account a longer time period, extent of renewable energy capacity and use, additional carbon sinks, energy efficiency etc. of respective countries," the ministry said. Forests and wetlands of the country are crucial carbon sinks but have not been factored in while computing the projected GHG emissions trajectory up to 2050 given by EPI 2022. Historical data on the lowest emission trajectory has been ignored in the computation, it said while rejecting the analysis. The ministry said the weight of the indicators in which India performed well has been reduced and the reasons for such change have not been explained in the report.