ALLEGED 9/11 MASTERMIND REACHES PLEA DEAL, AVOIDS DEATH PENALTY The alleged mastermind of the deadliest attacks ever on US soil Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other accused reached a plea deal with the US prosecutors, the Pentagon said on Thursday HYDERABAD  FRIDAY  AUGUST 02, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 36  LATE CITY EDITION The three were tortured extensively by the CIA. Their case has been delayed over whether the evidence extracted through torture was admissible in court. A plea deal avoids this problem Bridge rises but hope fades Seven more bodies recovered, toll touches 256; Army opens Bailey bridge to restore connectivity with affected areas; Rahul, Priyanka visit Wayanad Bill to strengthen management of disasters creates Lok Sabha heat P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra crossing a make-shift bridge during their visit to Chooralmala in Wayanad on Thursday | EXPRESS T O B Y A N T O N Y @ Chooralmala (Wayanad) THE Army on Thursday evening opened the 190-ft-long Bailey bridge at Chooralmala that could help speed up the search operations at upstream Mundakkai and Punjirimattom villages but hopes of finding more survivors at the landslide-hit areas in Wayanad faded on Day 3 of rescue efforts. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who visited the affected areas on Thursday said all survi, vors in Mundakkai have been rescued, indicating there is little hope of finding more people alive. During the day, search teams sifted through the rubble amid heavy rains and recovered seven more bodies, taking toll in the devastating tragedy to 256. Over 200 persons are still missing. The government tally as given by Revenue , Minister K Rajan, however, is 189. “The debris at Punjirimattom and Mundakkai has piled up like a mountain. Most houses have been completed destroyed. The search and restoration efforts will be daunting and time-consuming, which would take more than a week,” an official at the Control Room said. As per preliminary assessment, 348 houses were damaged in the landslides. The pace of search operations at Mundakkai and Punjirimattom, which were cut off following the collapse of the bridge at Chooralmala, was slow till now because excavators could not cross the river. With the construction of the Bailey bridge, now heavy trucks carrying excavators and other equipment can reach the affected ABOVE-NORMAL RAINFALL TILL SEPTEMBER: IMD The IMD has forecast normal to above-normal rainfall in August and September over most parts of the country except the northeast and adjoining areas of east India, Ladakh, Kutch and Saurashtra regions. This means there’s a high possibility of landslides and floods | P7 areas. On Thursday, four excavators were deployed in Chooralmala, three at Mundakkai and three at Punjirimattom, which remained inaccessible till Wednesday . “Different batches of Army, Navy, NDRF and Fire Force officials are deployed at the affected areas. Besides, several volunteer groups are also active. Over 5,000 people are engaged in the search operation alone,” said an official. Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra visited the landslide-affected areas at Chooralmala on Thursday They . also visited a hospital and community health centre in Meppadi. Calling the landslide a “national disaster”, Rahul said: “It is very difficult to speak to people in these circumstances because you really don’t know what to say to them. It’s been quite a difficult day for me, but we are going to try and help make sure that the survivors P5 get what is their due.” DAYS after deadly landslides hit Wayanad, the Centre on Thursday introduced Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024 in Lok Sabha to strengthen the national and state disaster management authorities. The Opposition parties including the Congress and Trinamool Congress questioned the constitutionality of the proposed legislation and said it will undermine the federal structure of the country . The government said it has become necessary to amend certain provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 to bring more clarity and convergence regarding the roles of authorities and committees working in the field of disaster management. The 2005 Act has been reviewed in consultation with all stakeholders, including state governments, it said. The bill, which was introduced in Lok Sabha by the minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai, confers statutory status to certain organisations like the National Crisis Management Committee that existed before Act came into force. It will provide for the creation of a disaster database at the national and state levels, make provision for the constitution of an “Urban Disaster Management Authority” for the state capital and large cities having municipal corporations, and make provision for the constitution of “State Disaster Response Force” by the state government. Congress lawmaker Manish Tewari said none of the entries in List 1 or List 2 of the Constitution dealing with the Central and state subjects deal with the issue of disaster management. Tewari suggested that the government should amend the concurrent list to have a proper entry to cover disaster management. Big-hitters gone, but Swapnil shoots for the stars 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 ■ ■ Sub-classification of SCs by states valid, rules top court MAJORITY RULING S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y By majority of 6:1, Supreme Court okays subclassification of SCs by states A seven-judge Supreme Court bench in a landmark ruling on Thursday empowered states to sub-classify groups within the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs) to uplift the more socially and economically backward among them for reservation benefits. The majority 6:1 verdict set aside a 2004 judgment by a five-judge bench in the E V C h i n n a i a h c a s e, which had held that sub-classification was not permissible because SC/STs form homogenous classes. But the 6:1 ruling said the SCs are heterogeneous. However, sub-classification can be done only on the basis of quantifiable and demonstrable data of backwardness and representation in government jobs and not on whims or political expediency the bench said. , The verdict came on a batch of petitions against sub-classification laws in Punjab, Tamil Nadu and elsewhere, arguing Overrules 2004 judgment of five-judge bench in EV Chinnaiah case Points out historical and empirical evidence to establish that that SCs are socially heterogenous Says Article 14 permits subclassification of class which is not similarly situated To sub-classify, states must collect data on inadequacy of representation @ New Delhi Dissenting judge says states cannot change Presidential List and tinker with Article 341 to provide reservation This victory is dedicated to those who lost their lives and to our cadre who tirelessly worked for the cause Manda Krishna Madiga, MRPS leader they were not in sync with the Chinnaiah order. “Article 14 permits the subclassification,” the verdict authored by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud for himself and Justice Manoj Misra said. Justices B R Gavai, Vikram Nath, Pankaj Mithal and Satish Chandra Sharma wrote separate verdicts that concurred with the CJI. Justice Bela Trivedi was the lone dissenter. She said Parliament alone has the right to include or exclude castes in the SC list, adding states cannot tinker with it. The CJI said the state in exercise of its power under Articles 15 (non-discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth) and 16 (equality in public employment) of the Constitution is free to identify the different degrees of social backwardness and provide special provisions, such as quota. States can sub-classify SCs if (a) there is a rational principle for differentiation; and (b) the rational principle has a nexus with the purpose of sub-classification. TELANGANA TO TAKE ORDINANCE ROUTE ON SC ORDER Wants exclusion of creamy layer from SCs too EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad A SWAPNIL KUSALE When Khalid Sheikh was captured in Pak. He spent three years in secret CIA prisons before arriving in Guantanamo in 2006. A trusted lieutenant of Osama bin Laden, it was Sheikh’s idea to use planes as weapons in the 9/11 attacks | P9 B K A R T H E E K @ Hyderabad FOLLOWING the Supreme Court’s verdict on categorisation of SCs, the state government decided to promulgate an Ordinance for implementing the order. Welcoming the SC verdict, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday told the Legislative Assembly that Telangana would become the first state to implement it. “If necessary the govern, ment will bring an Ordinance for implementing categorisation of SCs into A, B, C and D,” he said, adding that the categorisation would be implemented in the ongoing recruitment process. He recalled that the Congress government presented effective arguments through expert advocates in the Supreme Court. The chief minister recalled that after the formation of the Congress government, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha and others met legal luminaries in Delhi and presented effective arguments on behalf of the state government. The Supreme Court judgment was in favour of sub-categorisation, Revanth said. He appealed to Leader of the Opposition K Chandrasekhar Rao to come to the Assembly and give his views on the issue. Assembly clears skills varsity Bill SUMMER GAMES T the shooting ranges, the Indian fans shouting and I Swapnil Kusale recedes shifted my attention to that. And I into a cocoon and blocks said I don’t want to disappoint himself off from the noise. them. I will have to win for them,” O n T h u r s d ay, he said after the bronze. when the shootThis is India’s first 3-poing final was on at the sition medal in the Chateauroux shooting TNIE @ OLYMPICS Olympics. collector in Incentre, Swapnil shut A ticket himself from the outside dian Railways, Swapnil world. had a humble beginning. The competition was Hailing from a village 30 intense and Swapnil was km away from the dissee-sawing; sixth, fourth, trict of Kolhapur (Mathird, second and third in harashtra), his journey INDRANEEL DAS the 50 m rifle 3-position took him from a nondefinal. There is no place script village to global PARIS for emotion in shooting. glory . The heart needs to keep still and Soon after Swapnil’s medal, that’s what Swapnil did while se- though, heart-breaks followed. curing India one more bronze at Three, in fact. Before the Games the Olympics. He was hearing began, three of India’s biggest the PA system but did not medal hopes were Sift Kumar pay heed to where he was Samra (women’s 50 m rifle positioned. The fifty-odd 3-position), Satwiksairaj Indian supporters were Rankireddy and Chirag Shetcheering him on. “I ty (men’s doubles badmindid not pay atton), P V Sindhu (singles badtention to minton) and Nikhat Zareen what the (women’s 50 kg boxing). All MC was four failed to progress saying. But on a largely disapP11 I could hear pointing day . They have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy in exchange for a life sentence 2003 Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy goes through plans for the Young India Skills University after laying the foundation stone for it at Mirkhanpet of Kandukur mandal in Rangareddy district on Thursday Cabinet okays job calendar, sops to state’s sportspersons M A N DA RAV I N D E R R E D DY @ Hyderabad THE state Cabinet has approved a job calendar for annual government job recruitments. The job calendar will be presented in the Assembly on Friday for discussion and granted statutory status. The Cabinet, which met here on Thursday, also approved revised estimates of `437 crore for completing the right and left canals of the Gouravelli project. It also okayed sourcing 15 tmcft of Godavari water from the Mallannasagar project. Some of this water will be used to fill Osmansagar and Himayatsagar. The Cabinet approved allocation of 600 sq yd each in Hyderabad to sportspersons Esha Singh, Nikhat Zareen and Mohammed Siraj. It also okayed Group-1 level jobs to Zareen and Siraj. THE state Assembly on Thursday passed the ‘Young India Skills University Telangana (Public-Private Partnership) Bill-2024, paving the way for establishing a premier institution of quality skill education recognised by national and international industry and service sectors. The said university will offer Decisions taken JOB CALENDAR  Cabinet approves statutory status to job calendar; to be discussed in the Assembly on Friday RATION AND HEALTH CARDS  New ration and health cards to be issued  Health cards to be de-linked from ration cards  Cabinet sub-committee headed by Uttam Kumar Reddy to finalise procedures 17 courses related to healthcare, pharmaceutical and life sciences, artificial intelligence and information sciences, tourism and hospitality, automotive and electric vehicles, banking financial services and insurance, animation visual ef fects gaming and comics, construction and interiors, advanced manufacturing, retail operations and management, e-commerce and logistics, renewable energy food processing and ag, riculture, beauty and wellness, media and gaming and films, electronics and semiconductors and digital design. Taking part in the discussion on the Bill, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy told the Assembly that the Skills University will be offering three categories of certification courses which include training (three months to six months), diploma and two-year to three-year degree courses. CONTINUED ON P2 GOURAVELLI PROJECT SOPS GALORE  Cabinet approves revised estimates of `437 crore for canal completion  600 sq yd plots in Hyderabad to Esha Singh, Nikhat Zareen and Mohammed Siraj. Group-1 level jobs for Nikhat & Siraj NIZAM SUGAR FACTORY  Steps for revival discussed, govt okays payment of second instalment of arrears GODAVARI WATER  Nod to fill Osmansagar and Himayatsagar with Godavari water. 15 tmcft to be taken from Mallannasagar of which 10 tmcft will be for lakes and ponds around Hyderabad and 5 tmcft for drinking water needs MLC RECOMMENDATION  Names of M Kodandaram Reddy and Amer Ali Khan sent to Governor for approval under Governor’s quota KERALA TRAGEDY  Cabinet expresses condolence to families of victims; TG government to provide necessary relief measures OUTER RING ROAD  Cabinet sub-committee with Sridhar Babu, Seethakka and Ponnam Prabhakar formed to study merging of surrounding villages and municipalities in GHMC