TIRUCHY l wednesday l september 23, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l LATE CITY EDITION GST 2.0 boosts auto demand and affordability, spurs investment The tax cuts following rollout of GST 2.0 a year ago has driven a 20% surge in auto sales with passenger vehicle demand hitting new highs auto industry bosses remain bullish tax rationalisation proves a boon Maruti Suzuki (MSIL) MD and CEO Hisashi Takeuchi said that PV sales for them grew about 36% year-on-year during Apr-Aug 2026. Anish Shah, Group CEO & MD, Mahindra Group said since the GST rationalisation, SUVs sale grew 17%, while LCVs and tractors grew 20%. Tarun Garg, MD & CEO at Hyundai India, said 4 lakh-unit monthly sale mark is the new normal ■ ■ The executives said the reform has helped broaden the customer base, particularly by improving affordability in the entry-level market The GST Council had approved changes to the tax structure effective September 22, 2025, with petrol, LPG and CNG vehicles under 1,200 cc and and diesel vehicles up to 1,500 cc moved to the 18 per cent rate 3 crore vehicles sold between October 2025 and August 2026 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 Vande mataram US Prez claims he has to decide whether to make a deal with Iran or annihilate it; berates it for stalling a deal to reopen Hormuz until after the midterm elections No criminal Don defends Iran war; says he’ll action on conscientious use Russia tariff tool if required objectors: SC A G E N C I E S @ United Nations S U C H I T R A K A LYA N MOH A N T Y @ New Delhi “WE expect no criminal consequences for conscientious objectors to Vande Mataram,” the Supreme Court on Tuesday told the Centre on Tuesday while hearing a plea filed by Carnatic musician and author, T M Krishna. Krishna’s writ petition challenges the constitutional validity of the 2026 amendment to the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act of 1971, which extends penal protection to Vande Mataram, read with the Ministry of Home Affairs’ directions mandating singing of all six stanzas of the song at official functions. The last four stanzas of the song, which refer to Hindu deities, violate the secular character of the nation, his petition contended. The Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justices V Mohana and Joymalya Bagchi said it will examine whether the right not to sing the song, recognised in Bijoe Emmanuel, is protected under the amended law. The SC added it expects the 1986 precedent to apply ensur, ing no penal action against those who do not sing the Vande Mataram T M Krishna on religious grounds. The court said it is for the state to decide the contours of the song, but religious freedom under Articles 25 and 26 must be safeguarded. The SC judgment in Bijoe Emmanuel versus State of Kerala protected the right of individuals to refuse to sing the National Anthem on grounds of religious conscience. Opposing the challenge, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, argued that the issue should not be viewed narrowly through the lens of secularism. Senior advocate S Muralidhar, who appeared for Krishna, questioned the legal framework extending statutory protection to Vande Mataram. Krishna’s plea argued that the directions and amendment effectively compel citizens to participate in singing the last four stanzas and are violative of fundamental rights. On sanctions against Russia and AI 1 Trump said he will use, if needed, sanctions to end the war between Russia and Ukraine 2 Trump repeated his claim that he settled the war between India and Pakistan last year 3 Signed an agreement with Denmark and Greenland to strengthen Arctic and North Atlantic security 4 Told UNGA that artificial intelligence will be named “super intelligence” in all US govt documents PRESIDENT Donald Trump returned to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, defending his decision to go to war with Iran even as the conflict weighs o n h i s p a r t y ’s m i d t e r m prospects. “The terrorist regime is behaving badly not because they , are strong and confident, but because they are weak and desperate,” Trump said. “If we stand united, we will soon see a world free of the last 51 year menace of Iranian terror.” Trump accused Iran of stalling to make a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and negotiate an endgame to the war until after the US midterm elections. He insisted the tactic would have no effect on how he approaches the conflict. “I gave absolutely no credence and will not give credence to the election when it comes to Iran,” Trump said. “It doesn’t even enter my mind.” Most of Iran’s delegation walked out of the chamber as Trump railed against the Islamic Republic. On Russia, he said he continues to seek an end to the disastrous war with Ukraine. “Last Donald Trump, US President at UNGA week, in honour of Senator Lindsey Graham, I signed a powerful new law passed by Congress providing me with enormous new tariff authorities - and if necessary I will use , them... “It is time to stop the killing,” Trump said. Referring to the proposal to slow down development of artificial intelligence (AI) and calls for their international supervision, Trump called them a “globalist scheme” to control the E x p r ess N e w s S e r v ice @ Chennai CM C Joseph Vijay having breakfast with students after launching the extension of the Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Breakfast Scheme at a government middle school in Chennai on Tuesday | Ashwin Prasath Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Tuesday launched the expanded Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Breakfast Scheme for students of Classes 6 to 8 in government and governmentaided schools at an event held at Government Middle School in Gandhi Gramam, Thiruvanmiyur. Following the launch, Vijay served sweet pongal to the students and then sat down with them to enjoy a breakfast of sweet pon- gal, ven pongal, and sambar. The initiative will benefit around 15.3 lakh additional students studying in Classes 6 to 8 across 15,454 schools in the state. Following the expansion, the breakfast scheme will now cover a total of 34.64 lakh students in 44,984 schools from Classes 1 to 8. An additional `217.63 crore has been allocated in the current financial year to support the expansion, taking the total budget for the programme to `724 crore.  P5 El Nino: Not just drought, TN RDO checks deployed to curb paddy fraud may also face flood, heatwave B A N BU S E LV A N @ Chennai E X PR E S S N E W S S E RV I C E @ Chennai Tamil Nadu could face a mix of floods, water scarcity and heatwaves as a strong El Nino develops through late 2026 and persists into early 2027, the state’s expert advisory committee has warned, stressing that the phenomenon cannot be treated simply as a drought signal. Revenue and Disaster Manage- ment Minister K A Sengottaiyan handed over the committee’s report to Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay at a monsoon preparedness review meeting chaired by the CM on Monday . The panel has recommended a multi-hazard preparedness strategy covering floods, water scarcity, heatwaves, cyclones, agriculture, fisheries, health and critical infrastructure. Paddy from other states In the wake of complaints that rice traders and touts belonging to Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh were bringing paddy purchased from debt-ridden farmers to Direct Procurement Centres (DPCs), the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) has introduced an additional layer of verification by Revenue Divisional Officers (RDOs). The RDOs will scrutinise eadangal and other land-related The RDO-level verification is expected to curb manipulation of e-adangal records to prevent paddy procured from other states being brought to DPCs and sold at the MSP in Tamil Nadu documents submitted online by farmers for selling paddy at DPCs. So far, these documents were verified by Village Administrative Officers (VAOs) and officials posted at the DPCs. The additional verification has delayed the opening of DPCs in some districts during the 2026-27 Kharif Marketing Season, which began on September 1, affecting the pace of paddy procurement. The RDO-level verification will not only plug the scope for malpractice, including manipulation of e-adangal records to falsely show paddy cultivation, but is also expected to prevent paddy procured from other states, as well as old stocks stored at rice mills, from being brought to DPCs and sold at the minimum support price (MSP) in Tamil Nadu.  P5 c r i c k et i n j a p a n Japanese announcer, pamphlets & baseball connect special session of Parliament A special session of Parliament to push the delimitation bill and women’s reservation could be held during Navaratri | P9 N E x p r e s s Re a d Nellai Pocso case: SC stays death penalty New Delhi: The SC on Monday stayed the execution of a TN man sentenced to death for the repeated sexual assault of three minors aged between six and eight. Nellai Pocso court had awarded death penalty to Anandha Sekar (41) in March this year | P5 Chicken biryani in social justice hostels soon Chennai: Chicken biryani will soon be introduced in social justice department hostels across the state. According to officials, chicken biryani will be served regularly on Mondays in around 1,400 hostels after a GO is issued within two weeks. Minister Vanni Arasu has said the hostel menu is being revised based on students’ feedback and the state would also consider the request to add beef to the menu | P2 expanded breakfast scheme rolled out S-G’s ‘Naxalite’ remarks draw objections During the hearing, the S-G’s remark that “law-making cannot be as per Naxalites’ idea,” drew objections from Muralidhar, who sought its withdrawal. Afterwards, Muralidhar again sought a retraction but Mehta said, “I said that is the constitutional way, not what the Naxalite wants. And I am not sorry about it.” As president of the most extraordinary nation in history, I have no interest in leaving dangers to grow for another day. I do not believe in letting problems fester new technology He instead an. nounced that the US government would henceforth use the term “super intelligence” rather than AI in its communications. “It sounds much better” and “it’s much more accurate,” he added, wondering whether the rest of the world would adopt the term. He also dismissed warnings about climate change. “The very same people who said we’ll all be dead in 12 years because of global warming... are now saying that AI is going to kill us all, that robots are going to attack us, and that everything is going to be a total disaster.” The president renewed his attack on what he said were “globalist” bodies, including the United Nations and the International Criminal Court, which he urged other countries to boycott. He, however, hailed a deal with Greenland under which he said Washington would build a couple of bases in the Arctic. After his speech, Trump is expected to hold talks with new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, and a more informal meeting with Venezuela’s acting President. isshin mayor Hiroki Kondo was watching the women’s cricket gold medal match between India and Sri Lanka from the sidelines with Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha for company . “We will continue playing cricket here after the Games”, he told this daily as India went on to secure their first gold at the ongoing Asian Games. “We will have 18 days of cricket here in year. This is Japan,” he smiled. Cricket is still an obscure sport in this country The venue itself . Indraneel Das Express @ asian games Nagoya was baseball practice ground, which also doubles up as a public park with tennis courts as well as a football ground close by. The only permanent structures here are the toilet and the baseball dugouts. To help the crowd, the organisers also distributed pamphlets about the game in Japanese. Naofumi and Chisato are Japanese pamphlet at the venue explaining cricket from the neighbourhood and have never watched cricket. This is their first experience. Mimi Hirayama, the official announcer at the venue, is Japanese who lives in England. Her biggest challenge is engaging the audience who can barely differentiate between bat and ball or pad and helmet. “I was mainly talking about rules, because the Japanese audience is not familiar with this sport,” she said. Apart from the pamphlets, they also had Hirayima for company throughout Tuesday . National honour President Droupadi Murmu confers the award for Best Actor in a Leading Role on Mammootty, during the National Film Awards, at Kevadia | PTI T’gana HC sets aside CAT order quashing BrahMos boss pick J a v a r ia Rana @ New Delhi The Telangana High Court on Tuesday set aside a Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order that had quashed the appointment of DRDO scientist Jaiteerth R Joshi as Director General of BrahMos Aerospace, ending the immediate legal challenge to the leadership of the Indo-Russian missile joint venture. The high court had in January suspended the operative portion of the CAT order, allowing Joshi to remain in the post while the challenge was heard. A division bench on Tuesday allowed petitions filed by the Union government and Joshi against the December order of the CAT’s Hyderabad bench, which had found “manifest arbitrariness” in the selection process, struck down his appointment, diDr Jaiteerth rected the authorities to reconsider the R Joshi candidature of senior DRDO scientist Sivasubramaniam Nambi Naidu and ordered an interim arrangement to head BrahMos that excluded Joshi. Joshi was appointed Director General of BrahMos Aerospace in November 2024 and took charge on December 1. Naidu, a Distinguished Scientist with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), subsequently challenged the appointment, arguing that he had been superseded despite being the senior-most eligible candidate. The dispute centred on the weight to be given to seniority and scientific grade in selecting the head of a strategic defence joint venture, and the extent of discretion available to the competent authority to select a candidate on the basis of overall suitability . This newspaper had reported the CAT order against Joshi issued on on December 29.