FRIDAY CITIGROUP RAISES GLOBAL RECESSION ODDS TO 50% 24 Citigroup analysts’ warning comes in the wake of central banks around the world rushing to raise interest rates to arrest inflation JUNE, 2022 SUPPLY SHOCKS TO ADD TO ECONOMIC WOES epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard Recession is an “increasingly palpable risk” for the economy, the analysts said. “The global economy is flashing a number of yellow lights at present, which flow from the persistent supply shocks but also increasingly from central bank tightening and the effects of tighter financial conditions and higher inflation on the behaviour of consumers,” they added twitter.com/TheMornStandard AGNIVEER KHAP DIKTAT AGAINST JOINING Some Haryana panchayats have warned of social boycott if anyone registers PAGE 8 A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI Sena urges Dy Speaker to disqualify 12 rebel MLAs Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray swooped into action and requested the acting Speaker to disqualify 12 rebel MLAs who “defied the party whip”. Shiv Sena Lok Sabha MP Vinayak Raut said legislative party leader Ajay Chaudhari met Deputy Speaker Narahari Zirwal and submitted a letter seeking disqualification of 12 rebels including Eknath Shinde. BJP attempting to destabilise MVA: Cong Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday accused the BJP and the Centre of attempting to destabilise the MVA to form its own government and get the numbers for the upcoming the presidential election. The Leader of Opposition in the RS said the BJP has been making similar attempts in the past to topple non-Congress governments. Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde plays chess at a hotel in Guwahati on Thursday | PTI Shinde has 37; Pawar says prove it on floor of House Sena seeks to pressure the rebel camp as its count keeps swelling S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai WITH rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde showcasing the support of 37 party MLAs in a group photo-op at a Guwahati hotel on Thursday he appeared , to have the numbers to escape the anti-defection law. Also seen in the group photo were nine Independent MLAs. But NCP chief Sharad Pawar rallied around beleaguered Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray saying numerical strength , can only be proved in a trust vote on the floor of the Assembly He blamed the BJP for engi. neering it, citing Shinde’s claim that it had assured all support. With the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition making hectic efforts to draw the rebels back home, Sena leader Sanjay Raut sought to dangle a carrot by claiming the party was prepared to concede their demand TWISTS AND TURNS  Sanjay Raut claims Sena open to considering quitting Aghadi if rebels return in 24 hours  NCP, Cong downplay Raut’s remark, vow to support Uddhav govt  Pawar blames BJP for the crisis  But Dy CM Ajit Pawar says he does not see any BJP role in the rebellion to step out the alliance if all of them return within 24 hours and meet Uddhav. Parallelly the Sena was said , to have asked the Deputy Speaker to take action against those MLAs who did not attend the legislature party meeting. For their part, the rebels said, “We do not want a change in party president; we want the unnatural Aghadi alliance to go and a new a government with the BJP for various reasons. (a) We want harassment by central enforcement agencies to stop. (b) NCP is our real political opponent on the ground. Whenever fresh Assembly elections are held, NCP and Congress cannot be expected to transfer votes to Shiv Sena because they have been our traditional foes. However, when BJP was the ally the transfer of , votes was smooth. (c) BJP is a big party so keeping it in good , humour is smart politics.” But Raut said those afraid of CBI, ED or income tax raids are not hardcore Shiv Sainiks. As for Shinde, his support group appears to be swelling. When he had initially shepharded them to Surat, his MLA count was 20. It went up to 22 by the time he flew out of Surat to Guwahati, where more joined in. On Thursday, four other Sena MLAs entered his camp, taking P7 & 8 his score to 37.  J8.00 PAGES 12  1 RESPECTING the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all States, supporting talks between Russia and Ukraine and warning against using Afghan territory to shelter or train terrorists were some of the highlights of the 14th BRICS Summit Declaration issued on Thursday . The two-day Summit, being hosted by China, saw Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping criticising the West for imposing unilateral sanctions on Moscow, which in turn impacted the world economy at large. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said mutual cooperation can make a useful contribution to the global post-Covid recov- PM Narendra Modi addresses the BRICS Summit through a video conference | PTI ery. The ill effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy is still visible. “Today for the third year in a row, we are meeting virtually amid the challenges of the Covid pandemic. Even though the scale of the epidemic has reduced glo- bally than before, however many of its ill effects are still visible in the global economy,” Modi said. “We, the BRICS member countries, have had a very similar view of the governance of the global economy And . so our mutual cooperation can Citigroup’s bleak prognosis is shared by Deutsche Bank, which also feels the global economy may be headed for a recession. Baring the cracks in the battered global economy, factory activity indices for June released on Thursday in Japan, Britain, the euro zone and US showed a sharp decline in growth 3 2 COACH SAVES U.S. SWIMMER IN NICK OF TIME 5  The US synchronised swimmer sinks to the bottom during her routine in the solo free artistic final  Coach Andrea Fuentes, sensing what has happened, swims to check After grabbing hold of Anita, her coach pulls her to the surface  Another member of Team US dives into the pool to support  After lifting her out of water, attempts are made to revive Anita. She has since recovered and is expected to compete on Friday despite her history of fainting at competitions | AFP Unprecedented flooding in Assam town P R A S A N TA M A Z U M D A R @ Guwahati FOUR days ago, Amal Das called up his friend Prabal in Kolkata to infor m he was standing in ankle-deep floodwaters. Amal was talking from his first floor home in Silchar town, now entirely submerged. Like him, thousands are stranded as the raging river Barak has submerged not just this entire town in southern Assam’s Cachar district but the whole river valley . Silchar is incommunicado and without transport as 5-12 feet waves lash the streets. Locals say this is unprecedented. Pregnant women and children are the worst sufferers. The town is without power and wa- JAB-O-METER June 22 30,20,119 doses TAKE June 23 11,98,992 doses YOUR SHOT TOTAL: 1,96,75,59,671 NATIONWIDE JUNE 22 JUNE 23 DELHI JUNE 22 JUNE 23 Fresh cases 12,249 13,313 Fresh cases Recoveries 9,862 10,972 Recoveries Deaths 13 38 Deaths 928 1,466 03 1,934 1,233 00 make a useful contribution to post-Covid global recovery,” he added. In his address, Modi said a number of institutional reforms were made in the BRICS which have increased the effectiveness of the organisation. Meanwhile, in the backdrop of several Western brands shutting their outlets in Russia, Putin said Russia is in talks with India to set up stores all over the country . BRICS comprises five of the world’s largest developing countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This year’s summit is being held amid border tensions between India and China continuing unresolved and Russia being isolated globally over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Security personnel rescue people from a flood-affected area in Silchar | PTI ter supply Hand pumps, wells, . borewells, shops and commercial establishments are all inundated. Batteries of mobile phones have drained out and there is no Internet. Silichar takes pride in producing hundreds of techies — many of them settled abroad. As it is now in the throes of an 44% turnout in Rajinder Nagar bypoll after a high-voltage campaign Poor turnout in Lok Sabha by-elections E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi IT was a high-stake battle that saw intensive, high-decibel campaigning. But, it seems the voters were not enthused as the turnout for the Rajinder Nagar Assembly byelection was a mere 44 per cent — 43.75 per cent, to be precise. The contest between Durgesh Pathak of the Aam Aadmi Party and Rajesh Bhatia of the BJP was necessitated after highprofile AAP leader Raghav Chadha vacated the seat following his election to the Rajya Sabha. The polling percentage on Thursday was significantly lesser than the figure recorded in the 2020 Assembly polls, that is, 58.27 per cent. Even an appeal by Bollywood actor Sonam Kapoor — who was chosen by the Election Commission as an icon for its voter awareness campaign — could not drive a majority of Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh recorded a voter turnout of over 48 per cent in the bypolls on Thursday while the Rampur seat, which fell vacant after SP leader Azam Khan moved to the state assembly, recorded a turnout of just 39.02 per cent, as per the EC figure. Punjab’s Sangrur LS constituency, too, saw only 37.01% voting. P8 voters to the booths. Those who did vote were in for a surprise as they received a red carpet entry to tidy polling stations decked up with balloons. Interestingly, 24 Covid-positive persons also turned up to exercise their franchise and they cast their votes in the last one hour following all safety protocols. Water supply, sewer lines, broken roads and the new liquor policy were among the issues for many residents as they stepped out to vote. P3 EXPRESS READ POWER PLANT IN MP RELEASE ON BAIL MILITARY MATTERS BAN THREAT In a first, the Chhattisgarh-based South Eastern Coalfield Limited (SECL), an undertaking of the state-owned Coal India Limited (CIL), has decided to venture into power production. SECL has signed an MoU with the Madhya Pradesh Power Generation Company Limited for setting up a 660-MW unit. The power plant will come near the existing Amarkantak Thermal Power Station at Chachai in Anuppur district of MP with an investment of `4,665 crore, in which the SECL share will be around 70% | P7 A division bench of the Kerala High Court, in an interim order, on Thursday suspended the life imprisonment of Catholic priest Thomas Kottoor and nun Sephy, who had been convicted by a CBI court in 2020 in connection with the 1992 murder of Sister Abhaya. The bench of Justices Vinod Chandran and C Jayachandran allowed the release of the duo on bail till the disposal of their petition challenging the verdict of the trial court. The order came on a plea seeking bail filed by the convicts | P5 The Special Forces of the Indian Armed Forces will have to wait at least four years to get their elite commandos as keeping the significance of the super specialisation it can be extended only to those who will be joining as permanent Cadre of the Army, Air Force and Navy. The sources confirmed that the probation period and the advanced training further requires time. The Commandos in the Army are now the Parachute Commandos, Marcos in the Navy and Garud Commandos in IAF | P7 The visiting FIFA-AFC team on Thursday set deadlines to clean up the Indian football mess, asking the stakeholders to get the constitution of the national federation approved by July 31 and conduct elections by September 15, failing which the country could be banned by the world body. On the conclusion of its three-day visit, the team led by Asian Football Confederation General Secretary Windsor John, made it clear that the deadlines will have to be followed strictly | P11 Coal India undertaking to generate electricity now AIIMS DIRECTOR GETS ANOTHER EXTENSION Dr Randeep Guleria’s tenure has been extended for three months with effect from June 25. This is the second time he has been given extension | P4 4 US synchronised swimmer Anita Alvarez was saved by her coach at the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest on Wednesday BRICS harps on sovereignty, territorial integrity E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi FACTORY ACTIVITY GROWTH SLOWS Abhaya case: Life term of convicts suspended Commandos will not be from Agniveer cadre FIFA sets Sep 15 deadline for India to clean up mess acute shortage of essentials, the state government began air-dropping food packets, bottles of drinking water and other essentials. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who conducted an aerial survey of the district, of which Silchar is the headquarters, said the government would continue air-droppings for the marooned, apart regular relief. Assam’s Transport Minister Parimal Suklabaidya told this newspaper, “I am at chest-deep water now. Some 4,000 transformers in the district are under water. The flood has made life hell. The administration is providing relief.” Seven more people died in the state on Thursday, taking the flood toll to 108. TN POLITICS EPS vs OPS: AIADMK meet turns into battle zone T M U R U GA N A N D H A M @ Chennai THE AIADMK general council meeting held in Chennai on Thursday, after days of sparring between K Palaniswami and O Pannerselvam and latenight legal drama, rejected all 23 resolutions placed before it and decided to meet again on July 11 to consider electing Edappadi K Palaniswami as the single leader of the party along with other proposals. The Executive and General Council meeting telecast live saw Palaniswami emerge as the popular leader with a crown, a sword and a scepter presented to him and his adversary and party coordinator O Panneerselvam being heckled with rude slogans. The GC meeting, held after a 04:30 am Madras HC order gave it a go-ahead with a caveat that the council must not adopt any resolution other than the 23 already approved by the party, ended in just 34 minutes. R Vaithilingam, a supporter of Panneerselvam, dubbed the meeting as an illegal half-an-hour drama. Meanwhile, Panneerselvam left for New Delhi by a night flight. At the airport, Panneerselvam said he was going to the national capital to be present when NDA’s presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu files her nomination. Howe v e r, sources said Panneerselvam may consult legal experts and move the Election Commission over Thursday’s developments. Thamizhmagan Hussain, who was promoted as presidium chairman of the party during the GC meeting, announced the next date of meeting of the P5 GC.