DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 LOW REAL INCOME GROWTH IMPACTS DEMAND 72 100 122 86 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Concern in Govt: Pvt sector profit at 15-year high but salaries stagnant From services to manufacturing, wages show marginal growth TOO LITTLE HIKE FOR TOO LONG Average wage (INR) across six sectors from 2019 to 2023 Segment 2020 2021 2022 2023 Wage growth* BFSI 15,184 16,254 16,746 16,735 17,475 EMPI 19,659 21,155 19,608 20,608 20,509 0.8% FMCD/FMCG 14,608 15,763 16,538 17,826 19,023 AANCHAL MAGAZINE & SANDEEP SINGH 2.8% 5.4% IT 40,333 44,589 45,186 47,352 49,076 4.0% Logistics 15,844 17,290 17,132 18,331 19,534 4.2% Retail NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 11 THE SHARP slump in economic growth rate to 5.4 per cent in July-September this year has sparkedconcernsamongpolicymakers that low single-digit income growth in the corporate sector despite 4x (four times) 2019 15,514 18,048 18,799 17,908 18,675 3.7% *CAGR from 2019 to 2023; Source: Quess Payroll growth in profits over the last four years, is one of the reasons behind the slowing of demand. What has triggered conversations within corporate boardrooms,keyeconomicministries, and between the two, is a report prepared for the government by industry chamber FICCI and Quess Corp Ltd, a tech-enabled staffing firm with 3,000-plus clients, which showed that the compounded annual wage growthrateacrosssixsectorsbetween2019and2023rangedbetween 0.8 per cent for the engineering,manufacturing,process and infrastructure (EMPI) companies and 5.4 per cent for fastmoving consumer goods (FMCG) firms. What has made matters worseforworkerseveninformal sectors is a meagre or negative growth in real incomes i.e., wage CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E EXPLAINED 12/12/2024 Inflation an added ● burden WHAT HAS made matters worse for workers is meagre or negative growth in real incomes i.e., wage growth when adjusted for price rise or inflation. Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran has flagged this as “self-destructive” and urged India Inc to look within. Violent protests erupt in Parbhani after replica of Constitution is vandalised EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE DAY AFTER NOTICE TO MOVE NO-TRUST MOTION Our voice not heard, Dhankhar disrupts House, loyal to ruling party: Opposition ASAD REHMAN CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MUMBAI, DECEMBER 11 UPSET OVER the allocation of key portfolios ahead of the Cabinet expansion in Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday skipped his visit to New Delhi. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief MinisterAjitPawararrived in the national capital on Wednesday afternoon. “A formal meeting of the Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar leaves after adjourning the House, Wednesday. PTI BJP rallies to his defence: Insult to Jats & farmers, bid to deflect Soros VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 11 HITTINGBACKattheOpposition for its notice on Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, the BJP on Wednesdaysoughttoframeitas an “insult” to the Jat community and to a “farmer’s son from a humble background”. Targeting the Congress, the BJP called it a diversionary tactic to keep the spotlight away from the “connections” between the Nehru-Gandhi family and billionaire George Soros. “Today, those who talk about caste are bringing a no-confidence motion against the son of a poor farmer, Jagdeep Dhankhar. This is an insult to a HC judge’s anti-Muslim remarks: Opp MPs sign on notice to impeach MANOJ C G NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 11 THEOPPOSITIONINDIAblocparties in Rajya Sabha are preparing to give notice for moving a motion to impeach Allahabad High Court judge Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav following his controversial and derogatory remarksaboutMuslimsatanevent organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad last week. Sources said as many as 36 Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav THE EDITORIAL PAGE NO, YOUR HONOUR HC judge should not get away with hateful references to minorities. SC should draw the line for him PAGE8 Opposition MPs across parties havealreadysignedthepetition, initiated by Independent Rajya SabhaMPandlawyerKapilSibal, and the Opposition may move it Thursday after organising more signatures. The INDIA bloc has 85 MPs in Rajya Sabha. Among those who have already signed include the Congress’s Digvijaya Singh, Jairam Ramesh and Vivek Tankha; AAP’s Sanjay Singh; TMC’s Saket Gokhale and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 farmer’s son who comes from a humble background. The Congressanditsalliesknowthat the numbers are not stacked in their favour. This notice is going to fall. But just to insult the Jat community, a party is, for the first time in the history of the Rajya Sabha, giving a notice of this kind against the Chairman,” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD AFGHAN MINISTER KHALIL HAQQANI KILLED IN KABUL EXPLOSION U.S.-ISRAELI PLAN BEHIND OUSTER OF ASSAD: KHAMENEI PAGE 14 Missing earring, laptop: Some lost, found Parliament stories beyond the ‘note wad’ PAGE 1 ANCHOR DEEPTIMAN TIWARY NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 11 THE TRAIL of the “wad of currencynotes”allegedlyrecovered from the seat allocated to Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the Rajya Sabha remains “under investigation” a week on. Meanwhile, the wait of one lonely pen for its rightful claimant continues at the ‘Table Office’, the section of Parliament Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar land in national capital ahead of Cabinet expansion EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 11 A DAY after its notice for a noconfidence motion against VicePresident and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, the Opposition INDIA bloc on Wednesday called him the “biggest disruptor” in the House, andsaidhis“partisanbehaviour” had prompted the move. At a joint press conference, the Opposition’s Rajya Sabha members, including Leader of Opposition and Congress presidentMallikarjunKharge,alleged that they were not allowed to speak in the House. “Politics has taken precedence over rules in Rajya Sabha and the Chairman has indulged in partisan behaviour,” Kharge said. “I am very sad to say that the Chairman left us with no optionbuttogoaheadwiththisnotice. For the last three years, rather than providing time and space for Opposition members to raise critical issues, the Chairman has resorted to schooling senior leaders, speaking down to them like a headmaster, as though they are students in a classroom. He never misses an opportunity to insult any Opposition leader,” he said. “TheRajyaSabhaChairman’s conduct in the House has harmed the country’s dignity... The notice for his removal is not Upset over portfolios, Shinde skips Delhi visit Parliament’s Table Office is where items left behind by members are deposited. File INPARLIAMENT,PAGE7 where all things lost — and almost all found — land up in the House. Time being an exception. “Most members are quietly returned their belongings. Currently, there is just that unclaimed pen lying in the Table Office. Everything else has been returned,” a Parliament security staff member says, adding that ithasbeenlyingwiththemsince the last Session. The case of recovered cash, announced by Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar himself in the House and disowned completely by Singhvi, is CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Eknath Shinde threeleaders—Fadnavis,Shinde and Pawar — was to be held in Delhi. The meeting was to formalise the power-sharing formula and ministerial berths and portfolioseachpartywouldget,” a highly placed source in the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MUMBAI, DECEMBER 11 A DAY after a person in Maharashtra’s Parbhani city allegedly vandalised a glass-encased cement replica of the Constitution at the base of the statue of Dr B R Ambedkar outsideParbhanirailwaystation,violent protests broke out in the district in Marathwada, nearly 500 km from Mumbai, leading to clamping of prohibitory orders by the administration. Two four-wheelers and 1516two-wheelersweredamaged by a rampaging mob of protesters, who had initially gathered outside the collector’s office on Wednesday to hand over a memorandum, seeking “death penalty for the accused”, police said. Inspector General Shahaji Umap said that on Tuesday, a person named Sopan Pawar damaged the replica of the Security personnel patrol the streets in Parbhani on Wednesday. PTI Constitution and was beaten up by locals and handed over to the police. There was also minor stone-pelting on trucks on Tuesday by protesting crowds led by local Ambedkarite activists. “During questioning we found that the accused was suffering from some mental ailments and was being treated by two doctors,” Umap said. The CONTINUED ON PAGE 2