HYDERABAD l friday l september 04, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 36 l LATE CITY EDITION Days After hiring Varthaman, FLY91 Orders 40 New Aircraft FLY91, which recently welcomed former Air Force Group Captain Abhinandan Varthaman as pilot, on Thursday ordered 40 new ATR 72-600 aircraft $1 bn order one of largest for atr planes second INNINGS FOR iaf VETERAN It is the single-largest order for ATR turboprop planes by a regional carrier globally, valued at $1 billion. “The landmark order for 40 aircraft will provide the scale to build a much larger regional network and connect more unserved and underserved cities across the country,” the airline said in a release. Varthaman joined the airline as a commerical pilot in August ■ ■ Varthaman downed a Pakistani jet amid an aerial combat during ‘Operation Bandar’ in 2019. He was held captive for three days by Pakistan. In 2021, he was honoured with the Vir Chakra award The 43-year-old took premature retirement from the Indian Air Force in March, after completing more than 20 years in service 280 WEEKLY FLIGHTS CURRENTLY OPERATED BY FLY91 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 10-year plan to Surekha sacked, 3 women given key posts strengthen def Cabinet reshuffle unlikely till after monsoon session diplomacy, arms trade footprint E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad J a v a r i a Rana @ New Delhi India on Thursday unveiled its first consolidated public blueprint for defence diplomacy , with defence minister Rajnath Singh releasing the ‘RAKSHA’ framework, a 10-year roadmap aimed at expanding military partnerships, defence capacity building, indigenous manufacturing, arms exports and maritime security The framework rests on four pillars: . strategic partnerships, capacity building, indigenous defence manufacturing and exports, and maritime security. The defence ministry said it “marks a shift in India’s strategic engagement”, linking national security objectives with greater international defence cooperation. The document sets a “10-year roadmap to strengthen global security partnerships” and seeks to “position India as a key defence manufacturing hub”, as India looks to leverage its expanding domestic defence industry to build deeper strategic relationships and increase exports. Defence exports reached an all-time high of `38,424 crore last year, rising 62.66% from `23,622 crore in the previous financial year. Defence public sector undertakings accounted for 54.84% of exports and private companies for 45.16%. Exports by DPSUs rose 151% year-on-year, while private-sector exports increased 14%. India now exports defence equipment to more than 80 countries and has set a target of `50,000 crore in annual defence exports by 2029. The maritime-security pillar focuses on strengthening India’s role as a “Net Security Provider and First Responder” in the Indian Ocean Region. It builds on the Navy’s sustained operational presence in the region, including mission-based deployments, antipiracy operations, humanitarian assistance and disaster-relief missions. Capacity building, meanwhile, covers military training, exchanges, institutional cooperation and assistance to partner countries, particularly in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Army Chief Gen Dhiraj Seth, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary (Defence Production) Sanjeev Kumar, MEA Secretary (East) Rudrendra Tandon, Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ajay Kochhar and Chief of Integrated Defence Staff Air Marshal Tejinder Singh were among those present at the launch. Defence minister Rajnath Singh releasing the RAKSHA document on defence diplomacy | PTI As defence diplomacy is a core pillar of India’s foreign policy, this document provides a clear, actionable vision for the next decade, ensuring that India remains an anchor of peace, stability, and rulebased order in an evolving global landscape Defence ministry Strategic ties The new framework focuses on strategic partnerships, capacity building, indigenous manufacturing, exports and maritime security Kenya orders Tata Chem out D IPA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi IN a setback for Tata Chemicals, Kenyan President William Ruto said on Thursday that he has directed the firm to cease operations in the country saying its presence at Lake Magadi , in Kajiado County did not benefit his country . He said his government would bring in new investors. They should establish a glass processing plant and a chemical processing facility locally he added. Ruto said the Tata firm , was asked to leave because it had been exporting raw soda ash rather than processing it domestically . The announcement escalates an ongoing dispute that began weeks ago. In an earlier regulatory disclosure to stock exchanges, Tata Chemicals said its subsidiary Tata Chemicals Magadi Ltd received a notice on July 28 from Kenya’s mining ministry to suspend mining operations. Later, in a separate order, the company was asked to halt soda ash exports. Ending two weeks of political uncertainty surrounding Endowments Minister Konda Surekha, the All India Congress Committee on Thursday cleared her removal from the Telangana Cabinet. After consultations with senior Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, the AICC approved the decision and a formal recommendation was sent to the Lok Bhavan later in the day . Late in the evening, the Lok Bhavan issued a notification informing that the Governor dropped Surekha from the Cabinet. With her exit, three Cabinet posts are now vacant. A note from the CMO said Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had decided to drop Surekha from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect and had sent a recommendation to the Governor. The chief minister also decided to remove G Chinna Reddy as vice-chairperson of the Telangana Planning Board and appointed Gadwal Vijayalakshmi in his place. The government also appointed Nerella Sharada as chairperson of the Telangana State Commission for Women and G Sudha Rani, a former Rajya Sabha member, as chair- I r eddy S r i n i v a s Reddy @ Hyderabad Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, along with Ponnam Prabhakar and Mohammed Azharuddin, call on Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla in Hyderabad on Thursday Revanth blackmailed party, alleges Surekha Hyderabad: Senior MLA Konda Surekha on Thursday accused Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of using “blackmail politics” to secure her removal from the Cabinet. She told reporters in Delhi that the high command had no intention of removing her and alleged that Revanth had threatened to quit unless she was dropped | Report on P4 person of the Kakatiya Urban D eve l o p m e n t Au t h o r i t y (KUDA). The appointments give key positions to BC women leaders. Vijayalakshmi belongs to the Munnuru Kapu community Sudha Rani to the Padma, sali community and Sharada to the Goud community. Surekha is also from the Padmasali community . whiplash against bar body Law students out of BCI’s ambit: SC S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi In a major setback to the Bar Council of India, the Supreme Court on Thursday said taking disciplinary action against law students was beyond the statutory body’s remit. The court quashed two BCI notifications to bar the enrolment of NALSAR University graduates and seeking a probe against the students and faculty for their campaign against the Chief Justice of India, saying they were bad in law. This was despite the BCI it- The August 13 self withdrawing them with- mess in hours of their issuance. The controversy The bench said it is the inhad erupted on stitution’s job to take action August 13 after the against students. The BCI BCI directed State has no power over them till Bar Councils not to they enrol as advocates. enrol NALSAR’s 2026 “We are of the opinion grads as advocates that the Advocates Act, until further 1961... does not confer any orders following express or implied power allegations of a upon the BCI or any State campaign against CJI Bar Council to take any dis- Kant’s proposed visit ciplinary action against the to the university students of law. Such a power is preceded by registration of a law graduate as an advocate under the said Act. So far as students are concerned, it is their parent institution or the authority prescribed under the regulations/ byelaws of such institution which alone are competent to take disciplinary action,” the bench said. W ITH THIS ISSUE CITY’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 36 PAGES, INCLUDING 24 OF INDULGE (TABLOID) Dollar deposits After $ deluge, RBI fights excess liquidity B E N N K O C H U V E E D A N @ Mumbai the exceptionally high dollar haul of $137.34 billion through Reserve Bank of India’s special dollar-rupee forex swap facility has created a problem of plenty for the banking system, which is now loaded with `10 lakh crore of excess liquidity . Analysts say RBI needs to drain the surplus liquidity before it puts downward pressure on short-term interest rates or creates inflationary pressures. They suggested a combination of liquidity-management tools, including VRRR (variable rate reverse repo) auctions, raising the cash reserve ratio (CRR), and deploying the Market Stabilisation Scheme and Open Market Operation sales. Aditi Gupta, economist at Bank of Baroda, said system liquidity moved from a surplus of `1.6 lakh crore initially to `6.7 lakh crore by August-end and further to `9.7 lakh crore as of September 2. Radhika Rao, senior economist at DBS Bank, suggested a temporary CRR hike. Upasna Bhardwaj, chief economist at Kotak Mahindra Bank, said Cash Management Bills and Treasury bills could be more effective tools. So are sell-buy forex swaps. Action taken RBI has been absorbing the excess liquidity, having already announced VRRR auctions totalling `53.5 lakh crore between August 6 and September 2 to manage the liquidity surplus, said Aditi Gupta, economist at Bank of Baroda Vijayalakshmi, daughter of government adviser K Keshava Rao, will have Cabinet-rank status and may attend Cabinet meetings when invited by the government. The appointments are being viewed within Congress circles as an attempt to address the political fallout from Surekha’s removal while projecting BC representation. For all the talk around the next Cabinet reshuffle, the message coming from the Congress camp on Thursday was that there may be no immediate expansion or reshuffle. At least, not before the monsoon session of the Assembly ends. The question now doing the rounds among Congress MLAs, MLCs and leaders is whether the gover nment will undertake a full reshuffle or simply fill the three vacancies, including the one created by Konda Surekha’s removal. The appointments announced on Thursday may have offered the first clue. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy moved quickly to fill three important government positions with women leaders, including BC representatives. For party insiders, that looks more like an exercise in managing the immediate political fallout than the beginning of a Cabinet overhaul. Behind the scenes, however, discussions on a broader reshuffle have already been under way Sources said Revanth, . AICC Telangana in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan, TPCC president G Mahesh Kumar Goud and other senior leaders have discussed the issue with AICC general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal. The broad idea, according to the sources, is to settle the Cabinet as a team that can take the Congress into the next Assembly election. But timing is proving to be the problem. The monsoon session of the Assembly is scheduled to begin on September 7. Making changes to the Cabinet just before the session could create another round of political adjustments when the government is expected to concentrate on legislative business. Sources said the high command had therefore suggested that the exercise be taken up either next month or towards the end of September. There is another consideration.  continued on P4