TIRUCHY l sunday l may 12, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l LATE CITY EDITION Solar storm hits earth, creating light shows in North Hemisphere The Sun emitted two strong solar flares on May 10-11 at 9.23 pm and 7.44 am, US EDT, according to NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory Britain skies witnessed Northern Lights Starlink satellites under pressure The greenish hues, also known as the Northern Lights were prominently on display in Britain on Friday night. The Northern Lights are expected to continue into the weekend and possibly next week. People posted pictures of the Northern Lights on social media captured on their cellphones. The Hanle Dark Sky Reserve in Himalayas reported a crimson glow in Ladakh ■ The US NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit to take precautions. The flares could damage high-voltage transmission lines of power grids and satellites, disrupting navigation and communication services ■ Xinhua reported that communications and navigations in most of China will be impacted in the weekend, adding the country has issued a red alert 11-yr cycle Heightened activity in sun is witnessed as it approaches its peak 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 Modi to stay PM till 2029: Shah sc order quoted Citing marriage with survivor in Pocso case, HC acquits youth E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Hyderabad R S IVAKUMAR @ Chennai The Madras High Court has set aside the conviction and 20 years imprisonment awarded to a youth by a trial court for sexual assault of a minor girl in 2021. The court took into account their subsequent marriage, after the girl turned 18, for ordering the acquittal. Justice M Nirmal Kumar passed the orders while allowing an appeal filed by the youth who was convicted by the Special Court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act Cases in Tiruvannamalai district in 2023 for penetrative sexual assault of the 16-year-old girl who was studying Class XI at the time of the incident. The judge cited Supreme Court’s orders and observations in two cases which stated that courts cannot shut their eyes to ground reality and disturb the happy family life of appellant as well as the victim-girl in Pocso cases. “The conviction and sentence imposed on the appellant is set aside. He is acquitted of all charges,” the HC order said. Saying that, with the acquittal, the ‘stigma of criminal case and conviction’ no longer existed, Justice Nirmal Kumar said the case cannot be quoted or referred to for disqualification or other adverse considerations against the appellant or the victim in their future endeavours since they are seeking employment in private and government sector establishments. The appellant was pursuing a degree course when Covid pandemic intervened. During the lockdown, he stayed at a relative’s house located near the victim girl’s residence. CONTINUED ON P5 Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during a road show at Mehrauli in New Delhi on Saturday | Shekhar Yadav Modi playing the game of 1 nation, 1 leader: Kejriwal Claims Mamata, Uddhav, Stalin, Tejashwi could end up in jail as well A n u p V e r m a @ New Delhi Out on a 21-day interim bail ordered by the Supreme Court, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday was scathing in his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, accusing them of orchestrating a perilous game of ‘one nation, one leader.’ Kejriwal also sought to stir the leadership pot within the BJP speculating on Mo, di’s successor as the prime minister. The chief minister alleged that his incarceration was a “Modi move to quell opposition voices as AAP was a potential threat to the BJP”. “Mamata Banerjee, M K Stalin, Uddhav Thackeray and Tejashwi Yadav could face similar suppression if Modi secures victory in the Offers prayers at Hanuman mandir Kejriwal along with his wife Sunita and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann on Saturday offered prayers at the Hanuman temple in Connaught Place Lok Sabha polls,” he said. In his first press conference after coming out of Tihar jail, the AAP chief cited instances of what he said was the diminishing stature of veteran BJP leaders like L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Manohar Lal Khattar. “Ours is a very small party it , has governments in just two states; it is a 10-year-old party . The prime minister left no stone unturned in crushing it,” he claimed. “Our top leaders have been jailed. If top leaders of big parties go to jail, the party is seen as finished,” said Kejriwal. “He (PM) thought that AAP would be finished, but this is not a party but a thought, the more they (BJP) try to finish it, the more would it grow.” The AAP leader also alleged a ‘war of succession’ involving UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Modi. “It is Yogi’s turn. If Modi wins the election, he will change the UP CM within two months,” he claimed. “Many people ask me: ‘Who is the PM candidate of the INDIA bloc’? I ask the BJP: who will be your PM? Modi ji turns 75 in September next year. Modi ji made a rule that whoever is aged 75 years will retire. So, I want to ask the BJP, who is your PM candidate after next year?” said Kejriwal. Asserting that Narendra Modi will be the prime minister till 2029, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday clarified that there was no confusion in the party in this regard. He was responding to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s barb on the informal 75-year age cap in the BJP to hold electoral office. Speaking at a press conference here, Shah asserted, “I want to tell this to Arvind Kejriwal and company and the INDIA bloc that you have nothing to be happy about Modiji turning 75. There is no such provision in the BJP’s constitution. Modi will complete this tenure and continue to lead the country in the future. There is no confusion in the BJP .” He alleged that the INDIA bloc leaders knew the NDA would cross 400 seats and had resorted to spreading misconceptions. Shah rubbished allegations that the BJP would scrap reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs. Despite full majority in Parliament in the last two terms, the BJP never initiated any steps as alleged by the Congress, Shah said. He added that the BJP priorities were the construction of the Ram Mandir, abrogation of Article 370, reservations for women, and continuing SC, ST and OBC quotas. Responding to recent comments by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, Shah asserted that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir belongs to India. @ Chennai The recent fire accident at the Pattabiram substation near Avadi on the outskirts of Chennai has brought into focus the need for Tangedco to replace many of its substation transformers that are being used beyond their lifespan. The accident triggered power outage for 30,000 consumers for an entire night and plunged the area into darkness. While the normal lifespan of 16 Megavolt Ampere (MVA) high capex Procuring new substation transformers to replace the 20% old ones in TN may cost Tangedco between `240 crore and `800 crore transformers widely used by Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) in substations is 20 years, about 20% or 800 of them have crossed their lifespan. About 4,000 transformers are currently in use at 1,949 substations across Tamil Nadu, sources said. A senior Tangedco official said while distribution transformers cost anywhere between `5 lakh and `20 lakh, substation transformers cost `30 lakh to `1 crore apiece. Procuring new substation transformers to replace the 20% old ones may cost anywhere between `240 crore and `800 crore. “We have nearly 200 substation transformers in stock. Whenever necessary , we replace them,” the official said. CONTINUED ON P5 Begusarai, once known as the Leningrad of Bihar, dramatically took a right turn in the past two Lok Sabha elections, riding on the back of the Modi wave. This time, however, the Communist Party of India (CPI) is working overtime to wrest its stronghold from the BJP . Unlike 2019, it’s going to be a direct contest between the BJP and the Opposition bloc. The BJP has fielded Union minister and its fire brand leader Giriraj Singh (71) as its candidate again. He is locked in a tough fight with CPI’s Awadhesh Ku- mar Rai (72), two-time MLA from Bachhwada assembly constituency in Begusarai district. Rai is the joint candidate of the Opposition INDIA bloc comprising the RJD, the Congress, and three Left parties. The candidature of Rai, a Yadav by caste (OBC), shows the Left party’s intent to tap the RJD’s solid MY (Muslim-Yadav) support base. In the 2019 election, Giriraj had won the seat by defeating CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar (now with the Congress) by a margin of over 4 lakh votes. This time, the CPI’s optimism stems from two factors -- anti-incumbency against Giriraj and the Opposition’s joint fight against the BJP. In 2019, the RJD, a major regional party had also fielded , Awadhesh Kumar Rai and Giriraj Singh (R) Illustration: Mandar Pardikar change in quota policy Union home minister and BJP’s chief strategist Amit Shah alleges that Congress wants to snatch away SC/ST and OBC quotas and give them to Muslims, as they did in K’taka | P7 P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi The war of words between Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and the Election Commission (EC) continued on Saturday as the former shot off another letter in response to the poll body’s strong rebuttal on voter turnout data. In a post on X, Kharge said it was surprising how the EC responded to his “open letter” while ignoring other complaints. “The open letter is addressed to our alliance partners and not to the Commission. Surprisingly the EC wanted to , e x p r e ss r e a d ‘Savukku’ Shankar case: One more held Tiruchy: Acting on a complaint by Musiri DSP, a police team from Tiruchy arrested YouTuber Felix Gerald in New Delhi on Friday. Gerald is the second accused in the case filed against ‘Savukku’ Shankar | P4 Mallikarjun Kharge in Patna | PTI respond to this letter while ignoring several other complaints given directly to it,” Kharge wrote. The poll panel responded to Kharge’s open letter with a strongly-worded missive. It accused him of “attempting to push a biased narrative under the guise of seeking clarifications”. The open letter alleged that the “delay in the release of voter turnout data was an attempt to doctor the final results”. Responding, the EC termed the allegations baseless and “reflective of a biased and deliberate attempt to spread confusion”. In his letter, Kharge further expressed his misgivings about the language of the letter by the EC and said he will not press on the issue as the agency is under pressure. Despite ban, TN schools gloating about toppers in Class 10, 12 board exams N D h a m o t h a r a n @ Coimbatore File picture of Tangedco staff carrying out repair work at a transformer in Tirunelveli | V Karthikalagu BJP sees red as Left tries to wrest Begusarai, de-saffronise it RAMA S HANKAR @ Patna shah says no Kharge’s turn to write to poll body 20% transformers in TN operated beyond normal lifespan of 20 yrs S GURUVANMIKANATHAN Interview its candidate, Tanveer Hasan, who polled 2 lakh votes, splitting the anti-BJP votes. “Giriraj is facing the ire of voters. He has done nothing for the welfare of the people in the past five years. All he did was to raise the banner of ‘Hindutva’ without missing any opportunity to hurl abuses on Muslims. Will the people of Begusarai vote for him for this?” asks Randhir Kumar Singh, a resident of Rosera. Randhir, who owns a departmental store in the subdivisional town, says that even those belonging to Giriraj Singh’s caste (Bhumihars) are not happy with him. R a n d h i r ’s a n g e r against the BJP nominee is corroborated by Vijay Kumar Singh, a retired government employee of Begusarai town. “Giriraj mainly is relying on ‘Modi magic’ to win the election this time again,” he remarks. The ground situation is different from that of 2019 because there is a united Opposition candidate. However, this in itself may not be enough to defeat Giriraj. The CPI candidate’s chances will greatly dependent on how well he is able to woo the Muslim-Yadav vote base of the RJD. On the other hand, BJP supporters believe Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s blitzkrieg will overshadow all other issues and Giriraj will win. In violation of rules of the school education department, which prohibit declaration of students as toppers in Class X and XII public examination, several private schools across Tamil Nadu have started claiming their students to be state toppers. Some of them have installed flex banners outside their schools with names and pictures of students and have also stared placing advertisements in newspapers and TV channels. Based on the recommendations of a high-level committee formed by the school education department, Tamil Nadu government in 2017 decided to do away with releasing rank lists for Class X and XII public exams as they create depression among students who fail in the exams or lose top ranks by just one or two marks. “The state government had also directed schools not to advertise about toppers and results through print media and flex banners. The aim is to treat all children equally and avoid creating mental stress in them. The then school educa- A flex board put up by a private school with pictures of toppers and marks at Mettupalayam in Coimbatore | express tion minister KA Sengottaiyan had issued the order,” sources said. “Private schools seem to have fallen back into their old ways and have restarted the practice of advertising about ranks to increase admission and promote their schools to collect high fee. Some schools that have not got 100% result, are also claiming that they got 100% pass,” sources said. Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary, State Platform for Common School System, told TNIE that school managements are advertising their schools using children for their business. P5 An Infinity of Promise WITH THIS ISSUE PLUS 12 PAGES
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