The New Indian Express wishes its readers a Makara Sankranti MANGALURU  THURSDAY  JANUARY 14, 2021  `7.00  PAGES 16  CITY EDITION TRUMP ON VERGE OF SECOND IMPEACHMENT IN HOUSE Democratic Party-controlled US House of Representatives is all set to impeach President Trump on Thursday morning FIVE REPUBLICANS WILL SUPPORT THE MOVE While Trump’s first impeachment in 2019 brought no Republican votes, this time at least five Republican leaders have said they will support the Democrat move. The article of impeachment charges Trump with a count of ‘incitement of insurrection’ for his actions on January 6, when he delivered a speech inciting his supporters to lay siege to the Capitol ■ 67% DON TAKES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR RIOTS ■ Trump has taken no responsibility for the Capitol riots but cautioned that the impeachment move is causing “tremendous danger to our country, and it’s causing tremendous anger” More Republicans are expected to break away from party lines and vote to impeach Trump as US President THE MAJORITY NEEDED IN THE SENATE TO REMOVE A SITTING U.S. PRESIDENT CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Mega L46K-cr deal for 83 LCAs M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi Multi-role fighter plane  Tejas is a light weight, multi-role supersonic aircraft (both fighter and trainer) Governor Vajubhai Vala and Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa with the seven new ministers after they took oath at Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru on Wednesday | VINOD KUMAR T BSY Cabinet adds the power of seven; Nagesh dropped Muniratna left out despite CM’s promise, one berth kept vacant A S H W I N I M S R I PA D @ Bengaluru THE cabinet expansion exercise is never without heartburn and surprises and Wednesday was no exception. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa inducted seven new ministers while Excise Minister H Nagesh was dropped from the cabinet. In a surprising development, MLA N Muniratna failed to make it to the cabinet despite an assurance from the CM himself that he will get a ministerial berth. In the much-awaited rejig, the CM inducted MLCs M T B Nagaraj, R Shankar and C P Yogeshwar along with MLAs Umesh Katti, S Angara, Murugesh Nirani and Aravind Limbavali into the cabinet. Expected, disgruntlement among those legislators who failed to make it, came to the fore. Of the seven new ministers, except six-time MLA Angara, all of them had served as ministers earlier in various governments. While the portfolios for the new ministers are likely to be allocated soon, Nagesh, who was dropped from the cabinet, has been appointed as chairman of the Ambedkar Development Corporation with cabinet rank. With his resignation, CM has kept one berth vacant in the INSIDE 34-member cabinet. “Let us work together for the development of the state and to meet the expectations of the people,” the CM said while congratulating the new ministers. While experienced leaders like Katti, an eight-time MLA, and former ministers Nirani and Limbavali joined the cabinet, the CM came under fire from his own party legislators over the lack of representation in the cabinet to many districts as it has turned out to be heavily Bengaluru- and Belagavicentric. CONTINUED ON: P4 MORE THAN 50% OLD-TIMERS SEETHE P4 FROM 2 DISTRICTS OVER CHOICES  Designed to carry a veritable plethora of air-to-air, air-to-surface, precision-guided weaponry  Single-engine aircraft with delta wing designed for air combat and offensive air support with reconnaissance and anti-ship as its secondary roles  Extensive use of advanced composites in airframe ups strength to weight ratio, gives it longer fatigue life and low radar signatures IN a big boost to the indigenous defence manufacturing sector, the Cabinet Committee on Security on Wednesday approved the procurement of 83 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, worth over `45,000 crore. In all, 73 LCA Tejas Mk-1A fighters and 10 LCA Tejas Mk-1 trainers are to be bought at a cost of `45,696 crore from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Bengaluru, which is developing the aircraft. Besides, a `1,202 crore deal for the design and development of infrastructure for spares and repairs of Tejas was also approved. The first flight of the Tejas VACCINE VIALS ON THE MOVE TO DISTRICTS RA N JA N I M A D H AVA N & I F F AT H F AT H I M A @ Bengaluru AFTER the arrival of Covishield vaccine vials on Tuesday their distribution to most , of the districts began on Wednesday afternoon and the exercise will be completed in a couple of days, ready to be administered on January 16. Arundhati Chandrashekar, Managing Director, National Health Mission (NHM), said, “The Covid-19 vaccine distri- bution to the districts began on Wednesday afternoon, and will be completed in one or two days. We have the regular vaccine transportation vans we use for immunisations to collect vials from Bengaluru or the five other regional storage facilities.” Totally there are 88 vaccine , stores in Karnataka’s immunisation cold chain network. The two largest state storage facilities are in Bengaluru P3 and Belagavi. Mark 1A is expected by the end of 2022. The LCA is equipped with an Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar, Beyond Visual Range Missiles, Electronic Warfare Suite and Air to Air Refuelling facilities to enhance their combat ability and maintainability . HAL chairman R Madhavan called the decision a major boost in the atmanirbhar (selfsufficiency) drive in the aerospace and aeronautics sector. “The production rate for this increased requirement by IAF is being augmented by HAL from 8 to 16 aircraft per year,” he added. The Mk-1A variant is an indigenously designed, developed and manufactured state-of-theart modern 4+ generation fighter aircraft. “It is the first “Buy (Indian-Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured)” category procurement of combat aircraft with an indigenous content of 50%, which will progressively reach 60% by the end of the programme,” the defence ministry said. About 560 large and small companies are contributing to the Tejas programme. “It is estimated that when the LCA MK1A programme kicks off, it will generate primary jobs to 5,000 people across the country , foster local industry and help skill up the Indian workforce,” added Madhavan. EXPRESS READ Property tax set to rise in cities Notice for inter-faith marriage optional: HC Bengaluru: Property Tax is set to increase in Bengaluru and in other corporations and municipal limits, which fall under the KMC Act. The state cabinet meeting on Wednesday took up this issue, following a direction by the Union authorities | P4 Lucknow: In a judgement that may bring relief to inter-faith couples, the Allahabad High Court Wednesday declared as optional the mandatory publication of notice of intended marriages under the Special Marriage Act, saying it violated Right To Privacy 2 FIRs UNDER NEW COW SLAUGHTER ACT Chikkamagaluru district saw the first two cases to be booked under the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020, which was passed recently | P5