Chennai l tuesday l december 24, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l vellore EDITION Japanese auto giants Honda and nissan to begin merger talks Honda and Nissan have announced plans to join forces that could result in the creation of the world’s third-largest automobile company aim is to achieve economies of scale Competition from chinese ev makers Joining forces would help the companies achieve economies of scale to compete with Toyota, Volkswagen and Chinese automakers like BYD. Also, Japanese companies, especially Honda, have lagged behind rivals in electric vehicles (EVs) and are now trying to catch up. Nissan has years of experience building batteries and EVs that could help Honda in developing its own EVs ■ ■ Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi announced in August that they will share components for electric vehicles like batteries to cut costs | P10 The talks come at a time when Chinese automakers like BYD, Great Wall and Nio that make relatively affordable EVs are expanding their market shares as the world shifts away from fossil fuel-driven cars $50 bn would be the market capitalisation of the merged entity 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 Now, Dhaka note verbale for Hasina’s extradition Pioneer of Parallel Cinema K a r t i k Bh a r d w a j D Ministry of External Affairs confirms receiving it, offers no comment B a l a Ch a u h a n @ Bengaluru Bangladesh’s interim government said on Monday it had sent a note verbale to India seeking extradition of deposed former prime minister and Awami League head Sheikh Hasina. Hasina, 77, has been living in exile in India after she fled on August 5 following massive student protests over a controversial job quota. Foreign affairs adviser Touhid Hossain told media persons that they had sent the note verbale asking to send Hasina back for judicial process. It came after Bangladesh’s home advisor Jahangir Alam said his office had sent a letter to the foreign ministry to facilitate Hasina’s extradition, quoting a prisoner exchange agreement with India “under which it (her extradition) will be carried out”. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed they have received the diplomatic note from Dhaka. “We confirm that we have received a Note Verbale from the Bangladesh High Commission today in connection with an extradition re- File picture of Sheikh Hasina | PTI Probe into alleged $5 bn N-power scam The interim government has also initiated probe into an alleged $5 billion Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project scam involving Sheikh Hasina, her son Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed (Joy) and niece Tulip Siddiq | P9 quest. At this time, we have no comment to offer on this matter,” said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. Speaking to this newspaper, former high commissioners to Bangladesh Veena Sikri (200306) and Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty (2007-09) said a “note ver- bale is not an instrument on which extradition can be sought. Extradition is a very long, detailed process involving the judiciary. Request for extradition comes at the end of the process,” they said. “The requesting country has to complete the judicial process of proving the charges against the fugitive leader and convicting her,” said Sikri. She added that the UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Council) was invited to investigate the charges against Hasina. “The UNHRC team visited Bangladesh twice since August but they were not provided any evidence on the charges of murder, forced disappearance and human rights violations against Hasina,” added Sikri. “I’m told that Dhaka has sought Hasina’s extradition under a prisoner exchange agreement with India. Hasina is not a prisoner in India. She came here of her own will,” the former diplomat pointed out. India’s Extradition Act prescribes separate procedures for handling extradition requests from different countries. outreach Prime Minister Narendra Modi offers prayers to mark Christmas hosted by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, in Delhi | PTI express read 3 drown in Marakkanam, 3 boys missing in Tiruchy Villupuram/Tiruchy: Efforts are on to trace three schoolboys who went missing in Cauvery in Tiruchy on Monday. Meanwhile, the bodies of three brothers, who had drowned near Marakkanam on Sunday, were recovered on Monday | P4 Allu Arjun summoned by police for questioning Hyderabad: The Hyderabad police on Monday issued a notice to actor Allu Arjun, asking him to appear for questioning on Tuesday in connection with the stampede during the promotion of his film Pushpa 2 that killed a woman at a theatre in the city 14 Dec 1934 - 23 Dec 2024 I wonder what I would have become if he hadn’t had faith in me when no one else did. He and Nira (his wife) were a huge support in my difficult days. He did whatever he could with his life till the end. Not many people can claim to have done that Naseeruddin Shah, actor ays after celebrating his 90th birthday, Shyam Benegal, a towering figure in Indian cinema and a pioneer of the Parallel Cinema movement, passed away in Mumbai on Monday evening. Benegal, whose body of work straddled the worlds of mainstream and alternative cinema with remarkable dexterity leaves behind a leg, acy of nuanced storytelling and sharp social critique. Born on December 14, 1934, into a Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin family in Hyderabad, Shyam Sunder Benegal exhibited an early fascination with filmmaking. At the tender age of 12, he created his first short film with a camera stalin slams BJP govt Amendment of poll rules gravest threat to democracy: CM E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai Chief Minister M K Stalin on Monday alleged that democracy was facing its gravest threat under the BJP-led union government as it has made a reckless amendment to Section 93(2)(a) of the Conduct of Election Rules of 1961 to “kill transparency” and appealed to all political parties to counter the “assault on free and fair” elections. In a post on X, Stalin said, “Consequent to the direction of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to furnish the CCTV footage of an election booth, the union government brought this amendment to prevent public inspection of election documents and thus destroyed one of the basic features of the Constitution.” Post-amendment, the rules mention that only those papers specified in the rules would be available for public inspection, he said. Stalin accused the BJP-led government of acting out of fear. “The BJP’s fear extends beyond Haryana, reflecting anxiety over Maharashtra where their orchestrated and unholy victory in the Assembly polls has raised serious concerns.” P5 Child marriages up by 56% in TN in one year; Erode and Tirunelveli top the list S u b a s h i n i V i j aya k u m a r @ Chennai The number of child marriages in Tamil Nadu has increased at an alarming rate of 55.6% between 2023 and 2024. While 1,054 marriages took place in 2023, it increased to 1,640 in 2024 in just 11 months between January and November, data obtained by TNIE through the Right to Infor mation Act showed. The data also showed that the percentage of child marriages the authorities managed to stop after receiving com- plaints has consistently declined in the last two years. Authorities mana g ed to prevent 70.2% of the marriages in the 3,609 complaints they received in 2022. But this dropped to 65.4% (of 3,049 complaints) in 2023 and to just 53.7% (of 3,544 complaints) in 2024, indicating either lacunae in institutional mechanisms for effective action or a delay in receiving the complaints. Officials and activists TNIE spoke to were equally surprised by the sharp increase, especially with the state introducing schemes like Pudhumai Penn to incentivise girl students to pursue higher education instead of dropping out after school. At 150, Erode district topped the list in child marriages in 2024, followed by 133 in Tirunelveli. These were also the two districts that saw the highest increase compared to 2023 when Erode and Tirunelveli saw just 62 and 49 marriages, respectively . P5 1,640 The number of child marriages this year till November 150 child marriages reported from Erode district Dress CODE Women lawyers can’t appear with face veil: J&K HC FAYA Z WANI @ Srinagar THE Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has held that women advocates cannot appear before the court with their face covered. Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi cited provisions under the Bar Council of India (BCI) while making the observations in the order dated December 13. The order is related to an incident on November 27 when a woman identifying herself as an advocate named Syed Ainain Qadri refused to remove her veil when Justice Rahul Bharti, who was hearing the case then, asked her to do so. The woman claimed it was her right to appear with face covered, adding the court can’t force her to remove the veil. Following this, Justice Bharti did not entertain her appearance as counsel saying the court was unable to confirm her identity. The bench also warned the petitioners that their case could be dismissed if proper representation was not ensured. The court, then, proceeded to adjourn the case to another date and also sought a report from the Registrar General on the rules on dress code for lady advocates. The Registrar submitted the report on December 5. After examining the Registrar’s report, the court held that the rules prescribed by the Bar Council of India do not mention any such right. However, the court did not go further into the matter as the lawyer chose not to appear again. Later, another lawyer stepped in to represent the petitioners, whom Justice Kazmi heard before reserving the case for judgment on December 6. The petition was dismissed on December 13 after the court found that there was an alternative remedy available. It’s nowhere stated in the rules that such attire (veil) is permissible before this court Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi gifted by his photographer father, Sridhar B Benegal. Despite this early foray his jour, ney to becoming one of India’s most influential filmmakers was a gradual one, as he began his professional career as a copywriter in a Mumbai-based advertising agency . Benegal’s groundbreaking debut feature, Ankur (The Seedling) (1973), not only introduced Shabana Azmi to Indian cinema but also marked the arrival of a filmmaker unafraid to tackle caste discrimination and other entrenched societal issues. His subsequent films, like Nishant (1976), examined complex human emotions and power dynamics, such as a powerless school teacher’s (Girish Karnad) harrowing struggle with his masculinity and morality when his wife is abducted. The condition of women in Indian society remained a recurring theme in Benegal’s work. Bhumika (The Role) (1977), featuring a career-defining performance by Smita Patil. Mandi (1983) offered a trenchant exploration of the lives of sex workers within the confines of a brothel. His mastery over the medium also found expression in documentaries on towering figures like Jawaharlal Nehru and Satyajit Ray. His television series Bharat Ek Khoj (1988), based on Nehru’s The Discovery of India, remains a landmark in Indian historical storytelling. At 89, he delivered his final film, Mujib: The Making of a Nation, a biopic on the founding father of Bangladesh. Govt schools can now fail students of classes 5 and 8 18 states, Uts scrapped it Following the amendment to the Right to Education Act (RTE) in 2019, at least 18 states and Union Territories have done away with the ‘no-detention policy’ No expulsion The government has clarified no student shall be expelled from any school till the completion of elementary education K a v i ta B e j e l i d at t @ New Delhi In a major decision, the Centre has scrapped the ‘no-detention policy’ for classes 5 and 8 in schools governed by it, which means students will be failed if they do not clear the year-end examinations. According to a gazette notification, if a student fails to fulfill the promotion criteria, as notified from time to time, he or she shall be given additional instructions and an opportunity for re-examination within two months from the date of declaration of results. “If the child appearing in the re-examination fails to fulfill the promotion criteria again, he shall be held back in fifth class or eighth class, as the case may be. “During the holding back of the child, the class teacher shall guide the child as well as the parents of the child, if necessary and pro, vide specialised inputs after identifying the learning gaps at various stages of assessment,” the notification said. It will apply to over 3,000 schools run by the Central government including Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navaodyala Vidyalayas and Sainik Schools. “Since school education is a state subject, states can make their decision in this regard,” an official said.