HYDERABAD l Wednesday l January 14, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late cITY EDITION no more 10-minute delivery by quick commerce companies Eternal-owned quick-commerce firm Blinkit dropped its ‘10-minute’ delivery claim after a Union labour ministry fiat on Tuesday | P10 keeps in mind risks of quick delivery model Other aggregators, like Zepto and Swiggy-owned Instamart, are also expected to follow suit. The decision to do away with the ‘10-minute’ delivery model came after Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya persuaded delivery aggregators, keeping in mind growing concerns over welfare and safety of delivery workers galloping to close orders pic: P Ravikumar 2.3cr gig workers hail govt intervention ■ The promise of 10-minute delivery led to gig workers holding a nationwide strike on New Year’s Eve in 2025, drawing attention to workers’ health, safety vis-a-vis the model, and their income ■ In a statement, Gig and Platform Service Workers Union welcomed the govt’s decision to discontinue the instant delivery system is the projected strength of india’s gig workforce by 2030 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 Hefty fine on states in dog bite cases: SC e x p r e ss n e w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will ask states to pay a “heavy compensation” for dog-bite cases and hold dog feeders accountable as it flagged its concern over the lack of implementation of norms on stray animals for the past five years. A bench of justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and N V Anjaria said that even dog lovers and feeders will be held ‘responsible’ and ‘accountable’ for do g-bite incidents. “For every dog bite, death or injury caused to children or elderly, we are going to ask the state governments to pay heavy compensation, as they did not do anything on implementation of norms in the past five years,” Justice Nath said. The court was hearing petitions seeking modification of its November 7, 2025 order directing eviction of stray animals. With toll topping 2,000, Trump announces fresh levy to press Tehran to go easy on the protesters P u s h p i ta D e y @ New Delhi Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials.... HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!! $17.3 bn Iran’s trade Major partners in total trade in 2024 India $3.6 bn Iraq Turkiye $12.3 bn $28.2 bn The Supreme Court on Tuesday delivered a split verdict on the validity of a 2018 provision that was inserted into the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which mandates prior government approval before investigating public officials in corruption cases. While Justice B V Nagarathna ruled that Section 17A be struck down, Justice K V Viswanathan partially read it down. The matter would now go to the Chief Justice of India to assign it to a larger bench. Justice Nagarathna observed that Section 17A was an attempt to “protect the corrupt”. “The requirement of prior sanction is contrary to the object of the Act, and Protecting it forecloses inquiry and officers protects the corrupt rather than seeking to protect “The singular the honest and those object (of with integrity who really Section 17A) is do not require any proto protect tection,” she said. bona fide On the other hand, Jusrecommen- tice Viswanathan held dations and that an independent agendecisions taken cy must decide the quesby officials and tion of prosecution sancbureaucrats,” tion. He directed that the Justice sanction be decided by Viswanathan the Lokpal/Lokayukta, observed reading down Section 17A to that extent. “Section 17A is constitutionally valid subject to the condition that the sanction must be decided by the Lokpal or the Lokayukta of the State,” Justice Viswanathan said. He added that striking down the provision will amount to “throwing the baby out with the bath water”, warning of policy paralysis from frivolous probes, and stressing the need to protect honest officers. He said a fine balance has to be maintained between the need to protect a public servant from mala fide cases and the importance of upholding probity in public office. UAE S UCHITR A K A LYA N MOH A NTY @ New Delhi Addl 25% Iran-linked tariff to have minimal impact on India: Govt $32.4 bn Split verdict on prior nod clause in anti-graft law China Different strokes Source: Trade Data Monitor via WTO, compiled by Bloomberg While US President Donald Trump delivered yet another blow by announcing 25% additional tariff on countries that do active trade with Iran, government sources said India is likely to have minimal impact. Their confidence stemmed from the fact that India’s total merchandise trade with Iran stood at only $1.6 billion (in 2024-25), which is 0.15% of the country’s total trade. “For India, Iran does not even figure in the top 50 global trading partners. India’s trade value with Iran is expected to further go down in the current fiscal year given external economic factors. (Therefore) 25% tariff announced by the US on trade partners of Iran is likely to have minimal impact on India,” said government sources. Iran’s total import in 2024 was worth about $68 billion, sourcing it goods mainly from the UAE ($21 billion - 30%), China ($17 billion - 26%), Turkiye ($11 billion - 16%) and the EU ($6 billion - 9%). India’s share was only $1.2 billion (2.3%). Top exports from India to Iran include cereals (rice), coffee, tea, spices, edible oil, etc. “There is still no clarity on whether humanitarian products like food and medicines will be exempted. India significantly exports such products. In any event, given the low overall trade volume, the macro impact will be low. If these products are exempted, the impact will be even lower,” said Anup Wadhawan, former commerce secretary . Trump announced the additional tariff to pressure Iran to step back from its violent crackdown on a wave of protests in the country that have left over 2,000 people dead. As per the data collated by Bloomberg citing WTO, India despite being one of the top 10 trading countries of Iran accounts for only 2.9% of the total share of trade. In 2024, the overall trade including both service and merchandise, between India and Iran stood at just $3.6 billion. Its merchandise trade with Iran dived by more than 20% in the last five years from $2.1 billion in 2020-21 to $1.6 billion in 2024-25, showed the data compiled by the commerce ministry . EAM and Rubio talk trade, possible meet next month Jaya n t h Ja c o b @ New Delhi A day after Washington’s new ambassador to New Delhi Sergio Gor said India and the US would take up outstanding trade issues, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday and discussed the next steps in the trade negotiations, critical minerals and a possible meeting next month. Highlighting the breadth of engagement between the two sides, Jaishankar said the conversation also covered nuclear cooperation, defence and energy Gor, too, said . that Rubio and Jaishankar discussed “next steps regarding our bilateral trade negotiations, critical minerals and a possible meeting next month.” The diplomatic outreach signals an early effort to stabilise India–US relations. On Monday Gor described the , current frictions as part of a mature partnership capable of managing disagreements. Sankranti rush leaves Hyd-Vij highway choked A S e s h a c h a r y u l u @ Nalgonda Vehicles queue at the Panthangi toll plaza on Tuesday A day ahead of Bhogi, National Highway (NH)-65, which connects Hyderabad to Vijayawada, turned into a slow-moving corridor as tens of thousands of people began their annual journey home. With cars packed with sweets and suitcases tied to rooftops, traffic surged on Tuesday as people headed to their native places in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh for Sankranti, which falls on Thursday Compared to . Monday movement towards the , Vijayawada side increased sharply with vehicles crawling , bumper to bumper for long stretches. To ease congestion, special arrangements were made at the Panthangi toll plaza, where 10 additional counters were opened for vehicles heading towards Vijayawada. Handheld toll collection machines, supported by extra staff, were deployed to prevent vehicles from halting. Officials said over 50,000 vehicles crossed the Panthangi toll gate towards Vijayawada in the last 24 hours.  Continued on P3