THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l Thursday l January 14, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 18 l LATE 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 Don takes no responsibility for riots 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 ■ ■ 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 67% 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 LCA Tejas aircraft Boost to indigenous defence manufacturing sector as Cabinet approves the procurement M AYAN K S INGH @ New Delhi 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 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 . Allahabad HC gives interfaith couples a big relief Vehicles carrying boxes of Covishield vaccine leave the Kochi airport on Wednesday | A Sanesh shot in arm The first batch of Covid vaccine vaccine arrives in state arrived in the state on Wednesday. 4,33,500 doses of Covishield were sent from Pune-based Serum Institute. They reached Kochi and T’Puram by air. Vaccination will be held on Saturday. P2 walayar case Multi-role fighter plane  Tejas is a light weight, multi-role supersonic aircraft (both fighter and trainer)  Designed to carry a veritable plethora of air-to-air, air-to-surface, precision guided and standoff weaponry 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 4+ generation fighter aircraft. Panel for action against officials The P K Haneefa Commission, which inquired into the incident where two minor siblings were found hanging in their house in Walayar, has recommended departmental action against former Walayar sub-inspector P C Chacko — who inquired the case — for his failure to discharge official duties. The Commission also came down heavily on public prosecutors. P3 In a relief to inter-faith couples, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad HC ruled publication of notice of intended marriages under the Special Marriage Act can’t be mandatory as it violates the Right To Privacy. It said publication of such a notice and inviting objections to it “would be an infringement on the rights of liberty and privacy”. order out Govt offices to be open on Saturdays T’Puram: All Saturdays, except public holidays, will be working days in the state from now. The general administration has issued an order in this regard. In view of Covid-19 spread, the state government had declared Saturdays as holidays for state government offices. T20 magic ‘Azhar’ hits 54-ball 137, Kerala drub mumbai Mohammed Azharuddeen’s unbeaten 137 off 54 balls helped Kerala defeat Mumbai by 8 wickets in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Tro-phy T20 national championship. KCA announced a cash prize of C1.37 lakh for him. P13 18 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express UDF sounds poll bugle: `6,000 per month to poor, no-bill hospitals E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ T’Puram If elected, the UDF has promised to provide `6,000 per month to all financiallybackward people under the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) proposed by the Congress in its 2019 Lok Sabha election manifesto, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said here on Wednesday He added . more hospitals will be started to provide free treatment (nobill). He made the statement while announcing the draft policies of the UDF’s manifesto for the Kerala assembly elections. With just two months left for the Election Commission to come out with a notification for the poll, the UDF has decided to come out with a people-friendly manifesto with the slogan, “Clean and good governance”, laying thrust on “support, investment, labour and care.” Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi had proposed the NYAY scheme in the Congress manifesto in 2019. It guaranteed an annual income of `72,000 to every poor person. what’s on offer More investment, more employment, more compassion Karunya Kerala Scheme to see people getting medical care and compassion Scholarships, Wages, Pension (SWP) programme for students, labourers, jobless and geriatric individuals D250/kg support price for rubber and comprehensive scheme for paddy farmers Chennithala exuded confidence that Kerala would be the first Indian state to launch NYAY in full throttle if the UDF is voted to power. Highlighting that the UDF manifesto would be “truly democratic,” Chennithala urged people to send their recommendations to aishwaryakeralam@gmail.com and peoplesmanifesto2021@gmail.com. The UDF meeting held on Monday, January 11, had decided to form an election manifesto sub-committee with former UDF convener Benny Behanan, MP as its chairman , and CMP leader C P John as ● More on P4 convener.