KOCHI l thursday l october 29, 2026 l `10.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE city EDITION Cabinet approves 3% hike in DA/ DR for central govt employees The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a three per cent hike in dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) with effect from July 1 Representational image ‘diwali gift’ for 1.17 cr staff and pensioners L10,000 crore impact on exchequer The decision will benefit more than 1.17 crore Central government employees and pensioners. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw described it as a “Diwali gift”. The hike amounts to “an increase of 3% over the existing rates of 60% of the basic pay/pension, to compensate against price rise,” an official release said | p7 ■ ■ The combined impact on the exchequer on account of the increase in both DA and DR would be I10,016.10 cr per annum, the release said The DA and DR for Central government employees and pensioners are revised twice a year, one with effect from January 1 and the other from July 1. The latest announcement pertains to July 1 increase 48.5 lakh Current employees and 68.7 lakh pensioners to benefit 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 Vigilance to probe KIIFB’s Kannur land acquisitions E x p ress Ne w s S er v i c e @ T’Puram The state cabinet on Wednesday ordered a detailed vigilance inquiry into procedural lapses in land acquisition wor th crores of rupees through the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) in Kannur district. The finance and revenue departments will provide technical assistance to probe, an official statement said. The decision comes a day after Chief Minister V D Satheesan told the assembly that all KIIFB transactions, including land purchases in Kannur, would be scrutinised. Replying to the discussion on demand for grants on Tuesday, he said every project funded by taxpayers’ money would come under the scanner. The CM said much of the 1,000 acres purchased in Kannur was unusable. An attempt to mortgage the land revealed that its value was only a fraction of the amount paid for it. In addition, a Section 11(1) notification was issued in 2021 to acquire another 4,000 acres at an estimated cost of Rs 12,000 crore. With 12% annual interest, the outlay would now touch `15,000 crore, he said. He said the finance department had advised against the government extending a sovereign guarantee for KIIFB borrowings in 2022, but a meeting chaired by the then CM overruled it, he said. Puri named for RS seat vacated by L Murugan R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi The BJP on Wednesday named Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri as its candidate for the November 12 byelection to one Rajya Sabha seat from Madhya Pradesh. The decision to nominate Puri appears to signal the BJP’s intention to retain him in the Union cabinet. It offers a clear indication of his political future amid the recent controversies surrounding him. Sources said the BJP’s central election committee approved Puri’s candidature after deliberating on various aspects. Puri, 74, is currently Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas. The by-election in Madhya Pradesh was necessitated by former Union Minister L Murugan’s resignation. 16 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express 7 dead as arnab batters Andhra S Guru S r i ka n th / U sha Per i @ Vijayawada/ Visakhapatnam Seven people lost their lives across the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh in rain-related incidents triggered by the landfall of very severe cyclone Arnab in the early hours of Wednesday . The storm unleashed intense gale-force winds and torrential downpours across 14 districts, destroying an estimated 2.2 lakh hectares of agricultural and horticultural crops. Normal public life and economic activity were severely disrupted across the coastal districts of Kakinada, Dr B R Ambedkar Konaseema, East Godavari, West Godavari, Eluru, Krishna, NTR, Guntur, Bapatla, Anakapalle, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, and Srikakulam, alongside the tribal belts of Parvathipuram Manyam and Alluri Sitarama Raju. The cyclone completed its sixhour landfall process near Narsapur from 2 am-8 am, packing wind speeds of 115 to 135 kmph with peak gusts reaching 150 kmph. Fire and rescue personnel remove trees uprooted by cyclonic winds in Anaparthi in East Godavari district on Wednesday | Express The system made landfall about 20 km east-northeast of Narsapur, 40 km southwest of Yanam, and 60 km southwest of Kakinada. Although the storm weakened into a severe cyclonic storm after moving inland, the India Meteorological Department warned that Newborns named ‘Arnab’ In Odisha, 931 babies were born during the cyclone. Some parents chose to name their newborn boys Arnab, while girls were named Barsha severe weather risks persist. The toll included three electrocution fatalities in Visakhapatnam and Anakapalle districts. In West Godavari, a 45-year-old was killed when a tree crashed onto him, and another died after an electric pole fell on him. UMA kashVi youngest to get picked in wpl At 15, Karnataka and India U19 all-rounder Uma Kashvi became the youngest to be signed in Women’s Premier League. She was picked by Delhi Capitals for I10 lakh | P11 SC grills EC over use of Poor Cong show Form 6 by deleted voters in 4 states with Advises panel to reach out to Delhi voters struck off, extend deadline S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Wednesday came down heavily on the Election Commission of India (EC) over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi, questioning why deleted voters were asked to fill Form 6 which is meant for first-time voters. The court told the EC to devise a way to reach out to 47 lakh of 1.45 crore Delhi voters, whose names were deleted in the draft voter list during the ongoing SIR and suggested the deadline for the process be extended. The bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices V Mohana and Joymalya Bagchi said Form 6 requires a declaration that the applicant had never enrolled anywhere before. If voters already on the rolls in 2026 filled the form it would amount to a false declaration, exposing them to prosecution, the court said. The petitioners submitted that of the 47 lakh deleted voters, 43 lakh were marked absent or permanently shifted, although many had not received enumeration forms. The SC said a person going out for work for a few months could not be treated as permanent change of residence. “It cannot delete names of migrant workers, street vendors, daily wagers on that ground,” the judges said. The court advised the EC not to fix a deadline and to accept enumeration forms from deleted voters instead of asking them to fill Forms 6, 7 and 8. Urging the EC to find a way to reduce the gap of 43 lakh deletions, the court suggested it publish a list of those voters, asking them to contact the EC. The EC said it would consider accepting late enumeration forms and will extend the October 30 deadline if needed. “Your job is to act with due diligence... A voter comes and says, please put in these papers. You say, put in Form 6. How does he file Form 6?... This is structural incongruity... if he has not filled an enumeration form and draft roll having been published, he has not shifted... will you say the person forever loses the right to come in roll?” Justice Bagchi asked. “The right to vote is vital and it cannot be forfeited even if a voter is absent,” the SC said, adding that if a person had only changed their address they should be allowed to use Form 8 instead. Asking the EC to devise an effective mechanism to reach out to deleted voters, the court fixed the matter for hearing after two weeks. The SC was hearing a plea against issues in the SIR in Delhi moved by Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri. The petitioners have questioned the ‘logical discrepancy’ category in the SIR and said making deleted voters fill Form 6 forces them to make a false declaration. just 1 MLC seat hale in tightly contested Nagpur Graduates’ constituency. Of the eight seats in THE Congress suffered a set- Bihar, BJP won three while back in the biennial Legisla- the JD(U), RJD-1, and Jan tive Council elections as the Suraaj won one seat each. party lost all but one seat. The remaining two seats The BJP and its allies won went to independents. 16 of the 28 seats that went to Notably Prashant Kishor, polls on October 23 led Jan Suraaj Party MLC polls made its debut in Biin Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar Indirect, ballot- h a r L e g i s l a t iv e and Uttar Pradesh. based elections to Council with its canIn Congress-ruled elect members of didate Suresh PrasKarnataka, the BJPad Rai defeating sitLegislative led NDA swept all ting Congress MLC Councils of six four seats. The Jabicameral state Madan Mohan Jha nata Dal (Secular) legislatures—UP, in Darbhanga Teachwrested the Beners’ constituency . Bihar, galuru Teachers’ In Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, constituency from the BJP won six Karnataka, Congress, while the seats while the SaTelangana, and BJP retained the Andhra Pradesh majwadi Party seother three seats. cured three. Results Out of the five of two seats are MLC seats in Maharashtra, awaited. NCP-SP won two seats, while “MLC elections in 28 seats the BJP and Shiv Sena won across 4 big states. Elections one seat each. The Congress held using ballot papers. claimed its candidate, sit- Guess how many seats Conting MLC Abhijit Wanjari, gress won?” Modi said in a defeated BJP’s Sudhakar Ko- post on X. E x p ress Ne w s S er v i c e @ Bengaluru/Mumbai/Patna/Lucknow In a first, experience cinema round the clock at IFFK S ha i n u M o ha n @ T’Puram The eager wait for rare midnight screenings at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) is about to become a thing of the past. The film festival is set to break free from conventional screening hours, turning cinema into a round- the-clock experience. Starting this year, the Kerala State Chalachithra Academy plans to screen films through the day and night across multiple venues for six days of the festival, barring the opening and closing days. The 31st edi- tion of the internationally acclaimed festival will be held from December 11 to 18 in Thiruvananthapuram. According to the organisers, the extended schedule is intended to accommodate senior citizens, office-goers and younger audi- ences while easing the rush during daytime shows. Academy chairperson Raveendran said the decision to make the festival 24X7 was taken considering the audience’s perspective. “Delegates come to IFFK not just to watch movies, but to experience cinema. We want to create a space where they can watch films at any time of the day or night,” Raveendran told TNIE. Tagore Theatre, the main venue of IFFK, will be turned into a round-the-clock festival hub. The academy is also planning to add an average of two extra show slots per day across ● More on P4 multiple venues. DPDP Act does not curtail freedom of the press: Vaishnaw R A K E S H K U M A R @ New Delhi Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act does not infringe on investigative journalism, asserting that the Constitution guarantees press freedom. He invited editors and media professionals to engage with the government to address concerns. The minister’s pushback came a day after the Digital News Publishers Association, which represents 21 mainstream media outlets, challenged the Act in the Supreme Court. The publishers argued that the ab- Ashwini Vaishnaw sence of exemption for journalistic activities could impede investigative reporting and threaten press freedom. The Supreme Court has sought the Centre’s response and scheduled the next hearing for November 17. According to the publishers, the provisions governing notice, consent and the deletion of personal data could make it difficult for journalists to report on public-interest matters, particularly investigations into wrongdoings. They also raised concerns about the confidentiality of journalistic sources. Vaishnaw said the Constitution guarantees journalistic freedom and that the government had no intention of restricting it.