tiruchy l tuesday l march 28, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION REVISED NCERT textbooks LIKELY FROM 2024-25 academic session The textbooks will be developed in accordance with the National Curriculum Framework, a key component of the new National Education Policy Books to be available in 22 languages New 5+3+3+4 structure to replace 10+2 On Monday, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan held a high-level meeting on faster rollout of textbooks based on NEP 2020. During the meeting, he suggested that the textbooks be developed in 22 languages included in 8th Schedule of the Constitution. The new NCERT textbooks will also be available in digital format, education ministry officials said | P7 ■ NEP 2020 envisages a 5+3+3+4 academic structure, which will replace the traditional 10+2 model. Under this, children will spend five years in the foundation stage, which covers pre-primary till grade 2; three years each in the preparatory (grades 3 to 5) and middle (grades 6 to 8) stages; and four years in the secondary stage (grades 9 to 12) 2020 When the Central Government started the process to revise school textbooks 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 TMC, 17 other parties unanimously urge Cong to unite Oppn Parliament and later marched marched from Parliament to Vijay Signalling a realignment of the Chowk, reiterating their demand for Opposition bloc, 18 Opposition par- a JPC to probe the Adani issue. ties, including the Trinamool ConSpeaking to this newspaper, Rajya gress and the Aam Aadmi Party Sabha MP and CPI (M) leader Ealama(AAP), came together and ram Kareem said that all asked the Congress to take Opposition parties at the the initiative to coordinate dinner meeting, including with various Opposition the Trinamool, asked the parties outside Parliament Congress to take the lead to challenge the governin co-ordinating the fight ment on critical issues, acto ‘save democracy’. “Concording to sources. gress being the largest At a dinner meeting party among the Opposicalled by Congress presition, all the parties agreed To be homeless that it should take the lead dent Mallikarjun Kharge by April 22 on Monday, the parties in talking to other parties unanimously decided to Rahul on Monday was and fine-tuning strategies work together to fight the asked by the LS to challenge the governBJP government ahead of Secretariat to vacate ment on issues, such as the 2024 general elections. his governmentcorruption and Rahul’s The meeting had represen- allotted bungalow at disqualification. tation from the DMK, NCP , 12, Tughlaq Lane by “There was a consensus JD(U), BRS, CPM, CPI and April 22 following his that the Congress should AAP among others. Rahul disqualification as MP initiate a meeting with top Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi leaders of all parties and also attended the meeting. take the discussion forward.” The meeting was called to protest Sources said speaking in the meetRahul’s disqualification from the Lok ing, Rahul said “it’s a collective fight Sabha after his conviction in a defa- to save democracy”. Kareem said that mation case. Earlier in the day, all 18 parties have decided to hold more Opposition parties joined the Con- meetings in the coming days to plan gress-led ‘save democracy’ protest in strategies. P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Israel on the boil Thousands Israelis protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plan in Jerusalem on Monday. On Sunday, Netanyahu had fired defence minister Gallant for saying the judicial overhaul “poses a clear, immediate, and tangible threat to the security of the state” | AP | P7 `1K a month for 1 cr TN women: Stalin EX P RE SS N EWS S ERVICE @ Chennai Chief Minister MK Stalin on Monday announced in the Assembly that the monthly honorarium of `1,000 for women heads of households would be given to around one crore women in the state through bank transfer. Laying down the broad contours of eligibility, he said beneficiaries will include street vendors, fisherwomen, construction workers, women working for low wages in micro enterprises and do- mestic workers who work in multiple houses daily. A detailed guideline and criteria for the scheme will, however, be released shortly . The statement comes on the day when TNIE reported that the government is yet to finalise the eligibility criteria and the number of beneficiaries. The CM made an emotional plea that the government would not abandon any family head who believes that the monthly honorarium will change their life. Stalin made the statement SC poser on uniform Guj application of remission Joseph asked. While posting the case for April 18, the court Terming the gang-rape of said it would not be “overBilkis Bano and the murder of whelmed by emotions” and her family members during would only go by law. the 2002 Gujarat riots as horRemarking that the pleas inrendous, the Supreme volved a gamut of isCourt on Monday sues, the bench asked sought response from as to whether the Guthe Centre, the Guj a r a t g ove r n m e n t jarat government and could exercise its powthe 11 convicts whose er of granting remisremission of life imsion and could the SC prisonment was chalcloak an authority lenged by the victim with the power to MHA’s and social activists. grant remission when approval The convicts were the body could not do Additional released on August 15 so legally . last year by the Gu- Solicitor General Advocate Shobha S V Raju, jarat government. Gupta for Bilkis told appearing for A bench of Justices the court that CrPC K M Joseph and B V the Union home was clear on the fact ministry, said Nagarathna asked if that the remission was the remission the state had applied to be decided only by had the the remission policy the state where the triministry’s uniformly for all conal was held. “The preapproval victs languishing in siding judge of the jail. “We have before trial court said no reus many murder cases where mission should be granted. convicts are languishing in The CBI also said remission jails seeking remission. Is this should not be given... Both the a case where standards have policies of state and the Union been applied uniformly as in bar the remission,” advocate other cases too?” Justice Vrinda Grover submitted. S h r u t i K a kk a r @ New Delhi while responding to PMK assembly floor leader GK Mani who raised concerns around the eligibility criteria for the ‘Mag alir Urimai Tho g ai’ (roughly translates to ‘Women Entitlement Fund’). He began by highlighting women’s contribution toward society and family. “How many hours a day do they work for the success of a man, for the education and health of their children and for society? If wages were calculated for all that, women would have an equal share in all the family properties, without having to enact any law.” P4 Who all are eligible for honorarium? Laying down the broad contours of eligibility, Stalin said beneficiaries will include street vendors, fisherwomen, construction workers, women working for low wages in micro enterprises and domestic workers at houses. K’taka quota stir takes violent turn, bsy’s house stoned E x p r e ss N e ws S e r v i c e @ Shivamogga / Bengaluru PROTESTS by Banjara community against the Karnataka government’s internal reservation for SCs turned violent on Monday as some pro, testers threw stones at former CM B S Yediyurappa’s house in Shivamogga and vandalised a banner of the G20 meet, which had pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. The agitators alleged that SC-touchables, to which the Banjara community belongs, would now get lesser reservation. Banjara community leader Raghavendra Naik told TNIE that the BJP grew in the state because of Yediyurappa, who had the backing of the Banjaras. “Despite our support, Yediyurappa cheated our community,” he alleged. He said previous governments did not implement the Sadashiva Commission recommendations because it is a sensitive issue. Bommai sought to clarify that the government implemented the cabinet sub-committee’s recommendations and not Sadashiva Commission’s, adding that SC-touchables’ quota has in fact been increased from 3% to 4.5%. Blaming the protests on ‘misunderstanding’, Yediyurappa said: “I will meet the senior leaders of the Banjara community and discuss with them the reason behind the confusion.” TN custodial violence: Accused cop shifted out THI N A K ARA N RA JA M A N I @ Tirunelveli A day after the alleged brutal acts of custodial violence in Ambasamudram shook the state’s conscience, Director General of Police C Sylendra Babu shifted Balveer Singh, assistant superintendent of police, to the Chief Officer Vacancy Reserve with immediate effect on Monday . Inspector General of Police, South Zone, Asra Garg has been instructed to make additional charge arrangements. The ASP was accused of trate-cum-Sub Collector Cherbreaking the teeth of over 10 a n m a h a d ev i M o h a m m e d persons and crushing the tes- Shabbir Alam to conduct an ticles of two in police custody inquiry into the allegations. . The accusations “Alam has sent sumagainst Singh were mons to the victims levelled by many men who were tortured at who were brought to Kallidaikurichi police Ambasamudram, Kastation and the police l l i d a i k u r i ch i a n d personnel who were Vikramasingapuram on duty at that time. police stations for in- ASP Balveer Singh He has also asked the quiries. Upon recompersonnel to submit mendation of the police de- CCTV footage from the station p a r t m e n t , T i r u n e l v e l i and documents, including Collector K P Karthikeyan has copy of FIR registered against ordered Sub-Divisional Magis- victims,” said an official. P4 More skeletons tumbling out TNIE met four custodial torture victims, including Chellappa who had released a video online about the torture he underwent. The men said they would recount details to the SDM cum sub-collector. express read AIADMK gen secy post poll: HC verdict today Chennai: The Madras High Court will pronounce its verdict on Tuesday on a batch of civil suits and interim applications challenging the legality of electing Edappadi K Palaniswamy as the interim general secretary at the July 2022 general council meeting and the conduct of the general secretary elections | P4 Chennai corpn expects to keep rev deficit down Chennai: Mayor R Priya presented her second corporation budget, for fiscal year 2023-24, on Monday. The corporation expects to keep its revenue deficit at `334.59 crore — `183 crore lesser than the revised estimates for 2022-23. “We have been able to bring down the deficit due to the revision of property taxes along with improved collection” Amritpal Singh likely in Nepal, under govt radar Kathmandu: Nepal on Monday put fugitive radical preacher Amritpal Singh, who is believed to be hiding in the country, on its surveillance list. The move is after India requested it not to allow him to flee to a third country using an Indian passport or any other fake passport. Singh is said to be possessing multiple passports with different identities