mangaluru l saturday l January 31, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION Don names former Fed governor Warsh as next Fed chairman Kevin Warsh would replace current chair Jerome Powell when his term expires in May. Powell was on Trump’s line of fire for not cutting interest rates new appointment needs senate nod The new appointment, which requires Senate confirmation, amounts to a return trip for Warsh, 55, who was a member of the Fed’s board from 2006 to 2011. He was the youngest governor in history when he was appointed at age 35. Warsh is currently a fellow at the right-leaning Hoover Institution and a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business ■ 19 why warsh is an unlikely choice ■ In some ways, Warsh is an unlikely choice as he is someone who typically supports higher interest rates to control inflation Trump has said the Fed’s key rate should be as low as 1 per cent, far below its current level of about 3.6 per cent, a stance few economists endorse. Warsh has recently said he supports lower rates | P11 members of the fed reserve generally decide rate cuts 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 Menstrual health a fundamental right Confident Group chief CJ Roy shoots self dead after grilling by I-T dept R a ks h i t h G o w d a @Bengaluru Chiriankandath Joseph Roy, popularly known as CJ Roy, chairman of Confident Group — a prominent real estate company, shot himself dead following marathon grilling by sleuths of the Income Tax department on Friday . The real estate tycoon, who was also the Honorary Consul of the Slovak Republic (Karnataka and Kerala), took the extreme step at the consulate office located on the first floor of the Confident Pentagon building on Langford Road. The taxmen were still conducting the investigation at the Confident Group office located in the same building. His family members alleged that “pressure” from the IT department drove Roy (57) to end his life. The police said the incident occurred at the building, where IT officials from Kerala were questioning him for the past three days. Around six to seven IT officials had come to Roy’s office in two SUVs. On Friday, he was questioned for several hours. When they gave a break, Roy went to the consulate office on the first floor. After a few E x p r e s s Re a d Man murders parents, sibling in Vijayanagara HOSAPETE: In a shocking incident, a man allegedly murdered his father, mother and sister in Kotturu town of Vijayanagara district. The incident came to light after the accused went to a police station in Bengaluru to register a missing case for his family members. The accused has been identified as Akshay Kumar | P5 1/5th of SSLC students failed in Kannada last yr BENGALURU: Out of around 8.42 lakh students who appeared in the 2024-25 SSLC examinations across Karnataka, 1,65,080 failed in the Kannada language paper. Of these, 1,32,175 had Kannada as their first language, 30,913 as second language and 1,992 as third language | P6 minutes, a gunshot was heard and the staff rushed in. They found him lying in a pool of blood, as he had shot himself in the chest with a pistol. Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh, who visited the spot, told reporters, “The incident happened around 3.15 pm. Roy was immediately shifted to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival. A team of IT department officials from Kerala had been questioning him for the last three days. Even on Friday, Roy was subjected to questioning before he shot himself. We are in touch with his family members, who are not in India. The IT officials who were questioning him will also be questioned as part of the probe. As of now, there is no information regarding the IT case registered against him and also the reason for the suicide.” Roy’s elder brother CJ Babu, speaking to the media, alleged that Roy took the extreme step because of pressure from Income Tax (IT) officials. He alleged that an additional commissioner of Income Tax and his team were pressuring SC asks all schools to provide sanitary pads for free Police outside the Confident Group office in Bengaluru where CJ Roy (right) shot himself on Friday | nagaraja gadekal his brother. “My brother had been tense for a while due to the IT raids conducted over the past three days. On December 3 also, IT officials raided his office. He had no enmity threat or debt,” Babu , said, adding that he was also questioned by IT officials on January 27 and he had spoken to Roy around 11 am today (Friday). Roy’s wife, son, and daughter, who live in Dubai, are expected to reach Bengaluru around 3 am on Saturday  . P7 A team of IT department officials from Kerala had been questioning him for the last 3 days. Even on Friday, Roy was subjected to questioning before he shot himself Seemanth Kumar Singh, Bengaluru City Police Commissioner S ANTWANA B HATTACHARYA , PU S HPITA D E Y & DIPA K M O NDAL @ New Delhi INDIA lost billions of dollars in export opportunities due to the ‘naïve reading’ of sensitive sectors by the previous government during earlier negotiations with the European Union, commerce minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday . The free trade agreements with the UK and EU have opened up the automobile and wine sectors that were earlier perceived as sensitive. Goyal, in an exclusive interview with TNIE, said it was the ‘naïve’ decision by previous governments to keep these sectors closed that resulted in Indian exporters losing access to large developed markets. “It was the height of naïveté that the Congress could not even see what was sensitive and what was not. Today India exports $9 billion worth of , automobiles,” Goyal told TNIE. “Because of that failure under the UPA government, crores of people lost livelihoods. Our ability to move up the value chain and develop higher skills and better quality products was compromised. The Congress, DMK and their partners must be held accountable for this,” Goyal said. Under the India–EU FTA, tariffs on imported European cars will be reduced from 110% to 10% under a quota-based system, while duties on car parts will be completely phased out over 5-10 years. Similarly, duties on wines will be reduced from the current 150% to 75% when the agreement comes into force and will be progressively lowered to as little as 20% over time. Goyal said despite opening up the automobile and wine sectors, the domestic industry will remain protected as there are import quotas on EU products. “There is no threat. Manufacturing costs in Europe are too high. We have protected 90% of our auto market. Small cars are not part of the deal,” he said. NCB busts drug manufacturing unit in Mysuru E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Bengaluru Poineercherry Government Tamil Higher Primary School in Bengaluru’s Shivajinagar 100 not out, but over 3,300 govt schools on sticky wicket More than 3,300 gover nment schools in Karnataka are functioning in buildings that are more than 100 years old. They are deemed to be heritage schools, but the government has spent very little, only Rs 20 lakh, in restoration of these schools. In 2018, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had announced in the state budget that these schools would be identified as heritage schools and funds would be set aside for their restoration. Now, children in these schools are migrating to private schools, while teachers are being transferred to other schools. Bengaluru alone has 155 such schools. Most of these are in a dilapidated condition, some have downed the shutters and others are crying for attention so that they don’t shut the doors for students who come from poor socio-economic backgrounds. The famous Fort High School on KR Road in Chamrajpet is over 110 years old. The school building was restored by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) with private funding of more than Rs 2 crore.  CONTINUED ON P7 A Toyota Fortuner SUV with the Karnataka registration number was intercepted at Palsana, Surat district, Gujarat, on January 28 by the Narcotics Control NCB (NCB), Ahmedabad. The search of the vehicle led to the recovery of about 35 kg of mephedrone (MD) -- a banned empathogen-stimulant drug, also called ‘meow meow,’ or ‘MCAT,’ which is used in recreational settings because of its stimulant effects similar to amphetamines (particularly MDMA) and cocaine. The arrest of the alleged mastermind of the inter-state drug network, Mahindra Kumar Vishnoi, subsequently led the NCB, Bengaluru zonal unit to bust a “sophisticated illicit manufacturing unit in Hebbal Industrial Area in Mysuru, which was being operated in the guise of manufacturing chemicals for cleaning purposes, and was taken on rent by a co-accused and relative of the mastermind,” the NCB stated in an official release on Friday . “Drugs worth over Rs 10 crore (street market), along with Rs 25.6 lakh in cash, a Toyota Fortuner SUV and various chemicals weighing more than 500 kg have been seized in the case so far,” added the NCB.  CONTINUED ON P6 S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i s u c h i t r a k a lya n m o h a n t y @ New Delhi Piyush Goyal faults UPA govt’s naive protectionism R a s h m i Pat i l @Bengaluru Sunetra set to be sworn in DyCM today Rajya Sabha member Sunetra Pawar, spouse of deceased Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Ajit Pawar, is set to be sworn in as Maharashtra deputy chief minister on Saturday, hours after she is elected the legislative party’s leader. At present, Sunetra represents the party in the Rajya Sabha. The NCP which has 41 MLAs, , will hold its legislative party meeting at Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai on Saturday . The day began with NCP leaders Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, Chhagan Bhujbal and Dhananjay Munde meeting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and conveying that Sunetra will be elected the NCP legislative party leader and join the cabinet as deputy CM in place of her husband. “We also informed the chief minister that she will hold all portfolios that were allotted to Ajit Pawar, including finance, excise and sports,” said a party source requesting anonymity . Sources said Sunetra and her sons Parth and Jay are likely to attend the legislature party meeting where she will be elected its leader. HOLDING that the right to menstrual health is part of the right to life and education under Article 21, the Supreme Court in its landmark verdict on Friday directed all states and Union Territories to provide free biodegradable sanitary napkins to girl students and put in place functional, gender-segregated toilets for all students. Such sanitary napkins shall be made readily accessible at no cost to girl students, preferably within the toilet premises through sanitary napkin vending machines, or, where such installation is not immediately feasible, at a designated place or with a designated authority within the school, it added. The 126-page verdict by a bench of justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan warned that private schools failing to comply would face derecognition. “A period should end a sentence, not a girl’s education,” Justice Pardiwala wrote, noting that the pronouncement is meant for classrooms where girls hesitate to ask for help, teachers restrained by lack of resources, and parents who may not realise the impact of their silence. “The right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution includes the right to menstrual health. Access to safe, effective and affordable menstrual hygiene management measures helps a girl child attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. The right to healthy reproductive life embraces the right to access education and information about sexual health,” the bench held. The court directed that all schools must establish Menstrual Hygiene Management corners equipped with spare innerwear, uniforms, and disposable bags. School toilets must have handwash facilities and covered waste bins. The judgment came on a PIL filed by social worker Jaya Thakur seeking nationwide implementation of the Centre’s Menstrual Hygiene Policy . The absence of safe and hygienic menstrual management measures undermines dignified existence Supreme Court Compliance compulsory States and UTs must ensure compliance in three months, with District Education Officers asked to conduct annual inspections and child rights commissions overseeing implementation @ Mumbai