HYDERABAD  SUNDAY  FEBRUARY 5, 2023  `12.00  PAGES 24  LATE CITY EDITION CHINA’S SPY BALLOON LIKELY GUIDED BY A.I., SAYS EXPERT The balloon spotted over US seems to have advanced steering technologies, an expert on spy balloons said MAY REMAIN OVER U.S. FOR FEW MORE DAYS SECOND ONE SPOTTED OVER LATIN AMERICA The Pentagon too said the balloon is carrying advanced sensors and surveillance equipment and is manoeuvrable, disputing the Chinese claim that it has limited steering ability. Indicating there’s no plan to take it down immediately, the Pentagon said the balloon may stay over the US for few more days, adding it posses no threat the people below ■ The row has further strained US-China ties. The White House slammed China for violating US sovereignty and Beijing hit back, accusing the US of using it as a pretext to attack China ■ Amid escalating tensions, Pentagon said it spotted a second high-altitude Chinese spy balloon flying over Latin America | P9 46K feet THE HEIGHT AT WHICH THE BALLOON IS FLOATING OVER THE U.S. 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 Tax benefits off for funds to trusts named after the Gandhi family D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi IN another attack on the legacy of the Nehru-Gandhi family, the Finance Bill of the Budget 2023 introduced a provision that excludes donations to three trusts/foundations — the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust and Rajiv Gandhi Foundation — from the list of eligible funds for deductions under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act. The government says that these trusts/foundations, which were automatically eligible for Section 80G benefit, will now have to come under the regular route for tax cut. “It has been observed that there are only three funds based on names of the persons in the said section (Sub-section 2 of Section 80G). In order to remove such funds, it is proposed to omit sub-clauses (ii), (iiic) and (iiid) of clause (a) of subsection (2) of section 80G of the Act,” the Finance Bill reads. Sub-clause (ii) mentions the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund; (iiic) the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust; and (iiid) the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. This amendment will come into effect from April 1, 2024. Currently 50% of the amount , donated to four funds — Prime Those three trusts are registered under section 12A, so they will have to come under the regular regime of 80G in the normal course - Nitin Gupta, CBDT chief Minister’s Drought Relief Fund apart from the three mentioned earlier — is eligible for income tax deductions under sub-section 2 of Section 80G. Talking to this newspaper, chairman of the Central Board Direct Taxes Nitin Gupta said the three trusts would no longer be eligible for Section 80G benefits automatically . “How does a trust get 80G benefits? They get themselves registered under section 12A, seek the benefit of 80G registration and 80G (benefit) is granted. Those three trusts are already registered under section 12A, so they will have to come under the regular regime of 80G in the normal course with the approval of the commissioner,” Gupta explained. The move could become another flashpoint between the BJP government and the opposition Congress. Cong ress leader Jairam Ramesh told this newspaper they have not studied the matter yet, adding they will react on the issue in time. Delhi court cites Family of 4 crore rules TS, KTR tells Oppn Gandhi, frees 11 in Jamia violence I R E D DY S R I N I VAS R E D DY @ Hyderabad WITH THIS ISSUE Dissent needs to be given space; Sharjeel, others made scapegoats, says judgment agencies should be able to differentiate dissent and insurrecA Delhi court on Saturday quot- tion. “The desideratum is for ed Mahatma Gandhi to point the investigating agencies to out that dissent needs to be giv- discern the difference between en space, while discharging dissent and insurrection. The Sharjeel Imam, Safoora Zargar, latter has to be quelled indisAsif Iqbal Tanha, and putably. However, the eight others in a case former has to be given linked to violence at Jaspace, a forum, for dismia Millia Islamia in sent is perhaps reflecDecember 2019. tive of something which Sharjeel Imam, 35, a pricks a citizen’s conscholar and an activist, science,” he said. was one of the key pro“The subtext is explictagonists of a campaign it i.e. dissent has to be against the anti-Citizen- Sharjeel Imam encouraged not stifled. ship Amendment Act in However, the caveat is the prelude to violence ‘Long trial that the dissent should in Delhi in early 2020. not good’ be absolutely peaceful, The police had regisand should not degenerThe court tered multiple FIRs ate into violence,” read pointed out against him and others the 32-page order. under Unlawful Activi- that the long “Marshalling the facts trial of ties (Prevention) Act. as brought forth from persons Despite being cleared the per usal of the of all charges related to accused in the chargesheet and three case is not the 2019 Jamia violence, supplementary Sharjeel will remain in good for the chargesheets, this court jail since he is a defend- justice system cannot but arrive at the ant in the bigger conconclusion that the pospiracy case of the 2020 north- lice were unable to apprehend east Delhi riots. the actual perpetrators..., but In his order on Saturday, Ad- surely managed to rope the perditional Sessions Judge Arul sons herein as scapegoats.” Varma referred to Mahatma The liberty of protesting citiGandhi’s quote: “Conscience is zens should not have been lightthe source of dissent.” ly interfered with, the court’s The judge said investigating order stated. J A I S O N W I L S O N @ New Delhi PASTORAL POSTCARDS PLUS 12 PAGES VANI JAIRAM DIED IN CHENNAI ON SATURDAY The singer was recently conferred the country’s third highest civilian honour Padma Bhushan. She won the National Award for a song in Sankarabharanam, directed by K Viswanath who died on Feb 2 | P5 `521 crore to upgrade Kazipet unit to wagon manufacturing hub: Vaishnaw EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad UNION Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw has announced that the Centre has decided to upgrade the wagon overhauling unit at Kazipet to a wagon manufacturing facility by allocating `521 crore in the Union Budget. It would be a multi-purpose facility for locomotive and high-speed rail manufacturing in the near future and an industrial centre in the State. Addressing the media at the BJP office in Nampally on Saturday, Vaishnaw said that Hy- derabad was emerging as a major hub for the development of 6G technology, and the use of railway technology for artificial intelligence, machine learning, internet of things and the train projection system. To spur the development, he announced that IRISET and IIT Hyderabad were being made the Centres of Excellence to develop these futuristic technologies. He said that budget for railways had gone up to `886 crore between 2009-2014 in the erstwhile AP to `4,418 crore , for Telangana alone this year. He said that `29,581 crore worth railway projects had been sanctioned to Telangana, including `600 crore for MMTS Phase-2 works, `715 crore for the modernisation of the Secunderabad Railway Station. Opining that “Sabka Prayaas” was very important for completing projects, he urged Telangana to cooperate in land acquisition and forest and mining permissions. CONTINUED ON P4 VANDE BHARAT WINDOW GLASS BROKEN IN STONE PELTING E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Khammam UNIDENTIFIED persons threw stones on Vande Bharat train near Sriram Hills here. In the incident, the emergency window glass of the C-coach was broken and it was replaced later at the Visakhapatnam railway station. Railway Protection Force (RPF) has registered a case and launched investigation to identify the miscreants. Following the incident, the train got delayed by about one hour. It was the second incident of stone pelting on the Vande Bharat train. Some miscreants targeted the train at Visakhapatnam earlier. Locals suspect that some youths who were consuming liquor on the tracks were responsible for the attack. IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao on Saturday sought to turn the tables on the Opposition parties which accused the BRS government of being a family. He said that he agreed with their accusation that BRS is run by a family “I agree with . you. Ours is a family rule. But the family is four crore people of Telangana. KCR is the head of the family It’s a ‘vasudaika . kutumbam,” he said. Replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the Assembly, he recalled how KCR had transformed Telangana into a prosperous State. He said that the country wants a double impactleader like Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao as he can take forward development and welfare and not a double engine sarkar which is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Terming the BJP-led Centre’s slogan Sab ka Saath as “Sab bakwas”, Rama Rao alleged that PM Modi had cheated the common man while favouring his corporate friends. “The State is growing very fast because of the visionary leadership of KCR. Every section of society is reaping the benefit of welfare schemes. Show me one person in the State who is not a beneficiary of one welfare scheme or the other,” he asked. He reeled off the names of the welfare schemes and how they helped the poor and the CONTINUED ON P4 needy . 1 st TRANS PREGNANCY? A transgender couple in Kerala announced pregnancy, in possibly the first such case in India Zahhad, who was undergoing hormone therapy to become a man, is now eight months pregnant Zahhad and partner Ziya Paval initially tried to adopt a child, but found the process very difficult Zahhad (L) with partner Ziya Paval | EXPRESS Academy in Kerala harassed: P T Usha E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai TRACK legend and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president P T Usha on Saturday broke down during a small media briefing in New Delhi while describing the ordeal her Usha School of Athletics in Kinaloor near Kozhikode is going through. Intruders, she said, started some kind of construction in the middle of her academy on Friday. When the academy’s management confronted them, they misbehaved, she alleged. Usha claimed the workers said construction was being done after taking the Panangad panchayat’s permission. The work stopped after she complained to the police. She appealed to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan to address and resolve the issue. Usha reportedly said that this is not the first time her school and its staff were subjected to harassment. She said drug-addicts barge into the academy premises at night too. “We are being targeted continuously she said. ,” The Panangad panchayat denied the charges. “There is a human settlement near the academy and local residents need a road. The proposed road passes through the academy plot. We tried to find a solution, but it went in vain. Right now the panchayat is carrying out pipeline work for providing water to residents under the Jal Jeevan Mission. The academy is opposing it,” panchayat chief V M Kuttikrishnan said. POINT MIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi The CM and ministers are not giving time for MLAs. We are ready to discuss Old City development even with a chapraasi. Where is the leader of the House and where are the ministers and MLAs who are not even in the House during discussion? They only seem to have time to participate in TV debates T Jagga Reddy, Congress MLA Minister K T Rama Rao spoke as if there are no problems in the State. If the government does good work we will praise them. As an Opposition MLA, I have the responsibility to point out the deficiencies of the government COUNTERPOINT Minister KT Rama Rao The comments are untrue. The ministers are very much here. The leader who did not even attend the BAC meeting has no right to ask about the leader of the House. Don’t talk in an aggressive manner. If the leader of a party with 7 MLAs speaks for one hour, then what will happen to other members? The government has to reply to the Motion of Thanks, too I thank Jagga Reddy for acknowledging the fact that the government has done good work with regard to the Yadadri temple, allocation of medical colleges in Sangareddy. The government will address the other issues raised by the MLA Pradhan gets BJP charge to manage polls in K’taka R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi THE Central leadership of the BJP on Saturday appointed Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan as its in-charge for the forthcoming Karnataka Assembly elections. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Tamil Nadu BJP unit president K Annamalai will be the party’s co in-charges for Karnataka. Pradhan is considered one of the finest strategists in the party after Union home minister Amit Shah and national president J P Nadda. Karnataka will witness a high-stakes poll battle in April or May this year where a rejuvenated Congress sees its best chance to wrest power. Party sources said Pradhan had deep experiences in managing poll equations and motivating the cadre as well OBC voters. “He is a keen observer and a micro-poll strategist. He knows how to polarise votes of OBCs and other significant groups in the state. In UP and elsewhere, he had proved his ability during the polls,” remarked a senior BJP leader, adding that support of Annamalai will help him stratagise the fight to retain power.