SATURDAY FORMER SUZUKI MOTOR CHAIRMAN OSAMU SUZUKI PASSES AWAY AT 94 28 Suzuki, who grew small-car manufacturer Suzuki Motor into an international brand with huge success in India, passed away on Wednesday DECEMBER, 2024 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard SOUTH KOREA IMPEACHES SECOND PRESIDENT IN 2 WKS Lawmakers impeached acting president Han Duck-soo on Friday, two weeks after his predecessor was suspended over a martial law declaration. PAGE 9 Osamu Suzuki PROVED SMALL CARS CAN GIVE BIG BUSINESS  Calling himself an “old man at a small business”, Osamu Suzuki focused on building light-weight ‘kei’ vehicles, many of which became big hits for their fuel efficiency and easyto-handle quality  Under the charismatic businessman’s fourdecade leadership through 2021, Suzuki Motor’s sales grew more than 10-fold to 3 trillion yen REVOLUTIONISED INDIA’S CAR MARKET A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI  J8.00  He passed away on December 25 due to malignant lymphoma, according to information shared by Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corporation on Friday. Suzuki is credited for taking a big risk by partnering with the then Indian government in 1981 to form a joint venture, Maruti Udyog Ltd, when India was a closed economy. The move revolutionised India’s car market PAGES 12 Memorial space to be allocated Rural, urban after today’s cremation: Govt consumption HOUSEHOLD SURVEY 2023-24 Funeral at 11.45 am at Delhi’s Nigambodh Ghat crematorium, says home ministry MODI AMONG FIRST TO PAY HOMAGE Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was among the first ones to pay homage to Singh and lay a wreath on Friday, said the death was a big loss and the nation lost an able statesman Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays his last respect to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, in New Delhi on Friday | PTI P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi AHEAD of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s final rites with full state honours, the Congress on Friday requested the Union government for a resting place for him along the banks of the Yamuna in Delhi, where many former PMs have their memorials. The Centre told the Congress brass to conduct the funeral at the Nigambodh Ghat crematorium on Saturday as scheduled while it will consider the request for a memorial later. Later, the Union home ministry said the government will allocate space for a memorial, adding it has been communicated to his family and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. In his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kharge said: “Apropos our telephonic conversation today morning, wherein I made a request to hold Dr Singh’s last rites, which will take place tomorrow at his final resting place that would be a sacrosanct venue for a memorial of the great son of India. This is in keeping with such tradition of having memorials of statesmen and former Prime Ministers at the very place of their funerals.” A communication from the Ministry of Home Affairs in the evening said Singh’s last rites will be conducted at 11.45 am on Saturday at the Nigambodh Ghat crematorium with state honours. After a Cabinet meeting, Union home minister Amit Shah communicated to He left his imprint on our national life. The nation has lost an eminent statesman, renowned economist and a distinguished leader Union Cabinet resolution Kharge and Singh’s family that the government would allocate space for the memorial. In the meanwhile, cremation and other formalities can happen because a Trust has to be formed and space has to be allocated to it, the home ministry said. Significantly it was the UPA , government headed by Singh that decided in 2013 that there would be no separate memorials for VVIPs in Delhi and decided to have a common complex for memorials of departed national leaders like Presidents, Vice Presidents and Prime Ministers. In the condolence resolution passed at its meeting, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) paid tributes to Singh, saying he was a towering figure in India’s political and economic landscape whose contributions transformed the country an d e ar n e d h im re sp e c t P7 worldwide. MANMOHAN SINGH BELIEVED IN GROWTH WITH EQUITY KAPIL SIBAL Member of Rajya Sabha D R Manmohan Singh belongs to an era when politicians were respected for allowing institutions to flourish. It is not as if there were no aberrations in the past. By and large, the spirit of the Constitution was honoured by those in power. Even when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister (19992004), he respected and heard the voice of the opposition. Narasimha Rao, on one occasion, requested Vajpayee, who was the Leader of Opposition at the time, to lead a delegation to the UN. It was during those years that Manmohan Singh, from being a bureaucrat, who served the nation in several capacities, became the Prime Minister in 2004. The opening up of the Indian economy when a radical , shift was made in 1991, by Singh as Finance Minister with India’s balance of payments in deep crisis. His economic liberalisation policy paved the way for what India is today Every sector of the . economy moved away from the license quota raj and from a 3.3% growth rate prior to 1991, we in the 1990s witnessing India’s GDP growing at 6%. Between 2004 and 2014, GDP growth averaged 7.7% with 8.1% average growth between 2004 and 2009. Those were golden years, when India’s growth story was lauded internationally and 271 million people moved above the poverty line. Economic growth during these years was tempered with equity. Singh believed that growth without equity is not , the path India should tread. His commitment to Parliament and Parliamentary institutions was unmatched. He sat through the debates, listening to the opposition and attempted, to the extent possible, to move forward with consensus. He did not have the luxury of a brute majority in the Lok Sabha and therefore, had to navigate his policies through dialogue both with his coalition partners and the opposition. The dialogues, with his coalition partners, allowed him to make some monumental decisions. The Right to Information Act, 2005, brought about enormous transparency in the process of decision making. With information available to citizens, government could be held accountable, making transparency a policy prescription. The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, allowed 25% of children belonging to the poor and marginalised communities to be admitted to private schools where their education was subsidised from Class I to Class VIII. These changes in many senses recognised that unless people at the bottom of the pyramid have opportunities, India will continue to be an iniquitous society . CONTINUED ON P7 PERSONAL LOSS, SAYS SONIA Terming his death a “personal loss”, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Friday said Singh was her friend, philosopher and guide. She said Singh leaves a void in the national life that can’t be filled SINGH’S FINAL PROCESSION AT 9.30 AM On Saturday, his mortal remains will be taken to AICC HQ at 8 am, where party cadre and the public can offer tributes. The final procession to the cremation ground will depart at 9.30 am CHAMPION OF INDO-U.S. TIES: BLINKEN US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Singh was one of the greatest champions of US-India strategic partnership who brought the two countries closer A STATESMAN LIKE NO OTHER: PUTIN Russian President Vladimir Putin described former prime minister Manmohan Singh as an outstanding statesman who elevated IndiaRussia ties to greater heights HC okays burning of old man ‘Pappanji’ effigy E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Kochi IN a first, Fort Kochi will see two large effigies of ‘Pappanji’ being torched as part of this year’s New Year celebrations. Pappanji is the effigy of an old man, burnt during New Year celebrations in Kerala’s Fort Kochi as a symbol of the passing year. The event has its roots in Portuguese tradition. Attracting tourists from across the world, the event is organised by Kochi Carnival at Fort Kochi Parade Ground. This year, however, matters took a turn with Fort-Kochi based club Gala de Fort Kochi installing a Pappanji at Veli ground. As installation work was progressing, police ordered the dismantling of the effigy over security concerns. They said two similar events in Kochi would place officers under intense stress. Last week, Gala de Fort Kochi approached the court with a writ petition. The Kerala HC on Friday permitted the club to burn a 35ft-tall Pappanji at Veli ground by issuing an interim stay on an police order denying permission for the event. The court noted that organisers had obtained NOCs from the fire and rescue services department and electrical inspectorate. New Year tradition Pappanji is the effigy of an old man, burnt during New Year celebrations in Kerala’s Fort Kochi as a symbol of the passing year. The event has its roots in Portuguese tradition. gap narrows D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi THE gap between urban and rural consumption narrowed as the average monthly per capita consumption expenditure grew 9% in nominal term in rural areas and 8% in urban areas in 2023-24, the latest household consumption data released by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed. The gap between urban and rural consumption declined to 70% in 2023-24 from 71% in the previous year. The household consumption survey was conducted from August 2023 to July 2024. According to the new data, monthly consumption expenditure in current prices was `4,122 in rural areas and `6,996 in urban areas in 2023-24. In the previous year, the average monthly consumption expenditure was `3,773 in rural areas and `6,549 in urban. In real terms (2011-12 price), the increase in both rural and urban consumption is only 3.5% to `2,079 and `3,632, respectively . This paper had on December 3 reported the household consumption expenditure survey report of 2023-24 would be released soon. The government was awaiting the consumption data as it has to decide the new base year for calculating economic data such as GDP and inflation. The new base year could be either 2022-23 or 2023-24. The Consumer Price Index basket would also be changed accordingly. It is likely that the weightage of food in CPI basket will be aligned based on the consumption survey report. Currently food has a weightage of 44.6% in the com, bined CPI, which tracks the retail inflation. Average MPCE for major states STATE Kerala Tamil Nadu Telangana Andhra Karnataka Odisha Uttar Pradesh Maharashtra RURAL 6,611 5,701 5,435 5,327 4,903 3,357 3,481 4,145 URBAN 7,783 8,165 8,978 7,182 8,076 5,825 5,395 7,363 26/11 plotter dies of heart attack in Pak AGENCIES PAKISTAN-based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki, a key figure in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 174 people and injured over 300, on Friday died of a heart attack in Lahore, Pakistan. He was 70 years old and had been undergoing treatment for diabetes. He was the brother-in-law of Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed and the deputy chief of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD). According to the JuD, Makki had been ill for the past few days and was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Lahore. “Makki suffered a cardiac arrest early this morning and he breathed his last in the hospital,” news agency PTI quoted a JuD official as saying. In 2020, Makki was handed six months-imprisonment in a terror financing case by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan. However, another court in Pakistan commuted this to a paltry fine of `50,000. After this incident, however, Makki had been keeping a low profile. In 2023, Makki was designated as a global terrorist by the United Nations, subjecting him to an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. A vocal critic of India, Makki had made several provocative speeches threatening to seize Kashmir by force. Rain adds to capital chill, air ‘very poor’; thunderstorm today E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi RELENTLESS rain lashed the Delhi-NCR region throughout Friday dropping the maximum tem, perature to 15.2 degrees Celsius — a 10-degree decrease — while the minimum temperature was recorded at 9.5 degrees, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The rainfall, which began late Thursday at around 2.30 am, continued through the day mark, ing the highest December rainfall in the last 15 years. According to IMD data, in the last 24 hours till 8.30 am on Friday the city logged 9.1 mm of , rainfall. It led to waterlogging and traffic snarls in several areas across the city . The observatory at Safdarjung, the national capital’s primary weather station, recorded an additional 30.2 mm of rainfall between from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm. The all-time highest December rainfall was recorded in 1884, when the city received 134.4 mm of rain. An active western disturbance and its interaction with easterly winds were causing light to moderate rainfall and thunderstorms over northwest and central India, including the NCR areas of Delhi, the Met office said. On Thursday the maximum temperature was , recorded at 24.1oC, according to IMD. Meanwhile, the air pollution stayed in the ‘very poor’ category despite showing a declining trend. The 24-hour average Air Quality Index stood at 341 at 8 am and is expected to improve further due to favourable weather conditions. The Centre’s panel on air quality revoked GRAPIII restrictions amid dip in pollution. Of the 38 monitoring stations that recorded air quality data in the national capital, 32 reported the AQI in the ‘very poor’ category according to , the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). IMD forecast a thunderstorm accompanied by rain Saturday and issued a ‘yellow alert’, predicting very dense fog on Sunday . Notably an AQI between zero and 50 is consid, ered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very P3 poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’. IGIA issues advisory Low visibility procedures are currently being implemented at IGIA, but all flights are operating as scheduled, according to an official advisory. In a post on social media platform X, Delhi Airport stated, “Low Visibility Procedures are in progress at Delhi Airport. All flight operations are presently normal.” Air quality in NCR improves The National Capital Region air quality index improved and remained mostly in the ‘moderate’ category. In Haryana’s Gurugram, the AQI was in the ‘poor’ category, recorded at 249. In Rohtak, the AQI was 187. Areas in Uttar Pradesh had ‘poor’ air quality, with Noida at 225 and Ghaziabad at 229. 8 killed, 26 hurt as bus plunges 20ft down in Bathinda drain H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh AT least eight people were killed and 26 others injured when a bus fell into the Lasara drain near Jiwan Singh Wala village in Punjab’s Bathinda district on Friday . The incident occurred when the bus, carrying 44 passengers and travelling from Sardulgarh in Mansa district to Bathinda, crashed through the railing of a bridge just 13 kilometers from its destination and plunged 20 ft down into a drain. As news of the accident spread, locals rushed to the spot to help the trapped passengers. A team from the National Disaster Response Force reached the spot and began a rescue operation. Eyewitnesses said that the ongoing heavy rain hindered the rescue and search efforts. According to rescued passengers, the bus was speeding when a truck approached from the opposite direction at a high speed, causing the driver to lose control. The injured were rushed to nearby hospitals. Bathinda Deputy Commissioner Showkat Ahmad Parray stated that of the eight fatalities, five have been identified. The PMO expressed condolences over the loss of lives. In a post on ‘X’, it shared, “An exgratia of `2L from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given `50,000.”