villupuram l thursday l may 15, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION India rejects China renaming places in Arunachal pradesh India has firmly rejected China’s latest attempt to rename locations in Arunachal Pradesh, calling it a “vain and preposterous” effort arunachal an integral part of india: mea china’s move amid regional unstability New Delhi’s reaction came after China renamed 27 places in Arunachal Pradesh. In a strongly worded statement, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal reaffirmed India’s stance and said, “Creative naming will not alter the undeniable reality that Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India | P9 ■ ■ Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian argued that the move is within China’s “sovereign rights”. “The Chinese government has standardised the names of some parts of Zangnan (Arunachal) India’s sharp response comes at a time when regional dynamics remain tense, particularly due to the recent response to Pakistan 2017 was when china had renamed parts of arunachal for 1st time 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 Includes 3 new hydro projects Converting run-of-river projects into storage structures Plans for more Indus basin projects readied for Cabinet The Ministry of Jal Shakti has prepared detailed project After putting the Indus Wa- reports for submission to the ters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance, Cabinet. They include Sawalkot the government is considering Stage II (1,856 MW), Kirthai three new hydropower projects Stage II (930 MW) and Dulhasti on the Indus River Basin be- Stage II (260 MW). sides fast-tracking two other Besides, the ministry has reprojects. Addiquested Cabinet tionally, discusapproval to fastAdditional sions are undertrack projects power points way among top that had either officials to conslowed down or vert the existing been abandoned run-of-river hydue to Pakistani dro projects into roadblocks. They 4 5 storage projects. include the Bur1 3 2 The treaty sar project (800 signed in 1960 reMW) on the Mastricts India’s usr usudar river 1 Sawalkot Stage II age of the westwithin the Indus 2 Kirthai Stage II ern rivers—Indus, basin. Also, the Jhelum, and Uri Stage II (260 3 Dulhasti Stage II Chenab — to benMW) on the Jhe4 Uri Stage II* efit Pakistan. lum commis5 Bursar project Ever since, Pakisioned in 2013-14 stan has been is yet to realise * Uri Stage II commissioned but stalling Indian its full potential. full work yet to be completed proposals to con“As many of struct hydropowour projects have er plants. not moved forward in the past India put the treaty in abey- four decades, the government ance following a horrific ter- is aiming to scale up operations rorist attack on April 22 in Pa- as soon as possible,” said a senhalgam, killing 26 people. ior officer. 21 pak crew barred from leaving port J i t e n d r a C h o u b e y @ New Delhi New CJI sworn in Justice B R Gavai after taking oath as the 52nd Chief Justice of India, at a ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday, as President Droupadi Murmu looks on | PTI V-C search panels told to file report to govt, not governor E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai In first such orders issued for state universities under higher education department, the search panels constituted to choose Vice-Chancellors for four universities have been mandated to submit their recommendations to the state government and not the Governor-Chancellor as has been the practice so far. The Tuesday notification, issued after the landmark verdict of the Supreme Court regarding assent to bills that allowed Tamil Nadu government instead of the governor to appoint Vice-Chancellors, also extends the tenure of these search panels appointed earlier to August 13, 2025. These four universities are Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University (TNTEU), Annamalai University (ANU), Anna University (AU) and Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU). Though three-member search panels were constituted and notified for these universities respectively on Octo- petition in hc against univ amendment acts Chennai: The Madras High Court on Wednesday sought TN’s reply to a petition seeking to declare ultra vires the amendment Acts and gazette notification that takes away the powers of governor-chancellor to appoint V-Cs to state universities and vest those powers with the state government | P2 ber 19, 2022, December 9, 2024, December 13, 2024, and January 10, 2025, these committees could not complete their work due to the tussle between Governor R N Ravi and the government with the former insisting on the inclusion of nominees of UGC Chairperson as well as the fourth member to these panels. Through the orders issue on Tuesday, the government has extended the tenure of these panels till August 13, 2025 to finish their selection process and recommend a panel of three names to the government.  P5 express read Identify Agamic temples Class X, XI results to be in TN, SC asks committee out 3 days early on Friday New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the committee formed by the Madras HC to identify Agamic temples in TN to submit a report in three months. Once finished, no appointments of archakars must be made to them, the court said | P5 Chennai: The school education department will release the Class X and XI examination results on Friday, three days ahead of the earlier announced date of May 19. The Class X results will be declared at 9 am, followed by the Class XI results at 2 pm | P2 minister allays fear ‘Medical admissions won’t be hit, enough faculty in colleges’ E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai After the National Medical Commission (NMC) issued show-cause notices to 35 of 36 government medical colleges in the state, citing various shortcomings, including inadequate faculty strength, Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Wednesday indicated that the notices will not affect student admissions in these colleges. Addressing reporters, the minister said 26 colleges have already sent their replies with appropriate explanation to the NMC last Friday, and three others will send their replies on Wednesday The director of medical educa. tion and research has also issued appropriate guidelines for the remaining colleges to submit their explanations by next Friday . Although such notices citing certain discrepancies are issued to a few colleges every year, it raised concerns this year since almost all government medical colleges in the state had received notices. On the alleged shortage of doctors, Subramanian said all vacancies in medical colleges were filled up as per the sanctioned strength. There were 415 vacancies, of which 328 were filled initially, and the remaining 87 were filled on Tuesday A few months ago, 2,246 doc. tor vacancies were filled by the Medical Services Recruitment Board, keeping in mind vacancies that were going to arise, he said.  P5 Nod to HCL-Foxconn chip plant in UP r a k e s h k u m a r @ New Delhi THE Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a `3,706 crore semiconductor plant at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh, to be set up by the HCL-Foxconn joint venture to manufacture display driver chips for mobile phones, laptops, and automobiles. Union minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said with this approval, India now has six semiconductor units at advanced stages of construction. “With this sixth unit, Bharat moves forward in its journey to develop the strategically vital semiconductor industry,” said Vaishnaw. The new plant near Jewar Airport in the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Develop- IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw | PTI ment Authority (YEIDA) region will manufacture display driver chips for a wide range of devices including mobile phones, laptops, automobiles, and PCs. It is designed for a capacity of 20,000 wafers per month, with an output of up to 36 million chips monthly . Foxconn is the biggest manufacturer of electronic products, including Apple’s iPhone. The unit is expected to attract an investment of `3,700 crore. Vaishnaw emphasized HCL’s legacy in hardware development and manufacturing, and Foxconn’s global leadership in electronics production. Together, the companies aim to strengthen India’s semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem. The minister highlighted the growing presence of global semiconductor partners in India. He said leading equipment manufacturers have established operations in the country Additionally gas and chem. , ical suppliers like Merck, Linde, Air Liquide, and Inox are preparing to support the expansion. India had launched a `76,000 crore incentive scheme in December 2021. chip unit will attract more Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the new plant will attract investments. “Semiconductors are basic components. It will have a multiplier effect on the entire electronics manufacturing in the country,” Vaishnaw said on Monday BSF jawan Purnam Shaw after being handed over to India by Pakistan | PTI Paradip: India barred 21 Pakistani crew members from leaving a crude oil tanker that arrived at Paradip port on Wednesday. Sources said the decision was taken keeping in mind the tense situation with Pakistan How IAF bypassed pak’s Chinese air defence m aya n k s i n g h @ New Delhi IN a show of strength of the technological might of India’s armed forces, the government on Wednesday said Chinese air defence systems supplied to Pakistan were hoodwinked during Operation Sindoor and the mission wrapped up in 23 minutes. “Air Force bypassed and jammed Pakistan’s Chinesesupplied air defence systems,” the Centre said. All three services of Pakistan have a major presence of Chinese weapons and sys- tems including the Air Defence systems, J-10, JF-17 fighters and submarines. On the night of 7-8 May, Pakistan engaged military targets in Northern and Western India, but those were neutralised by the Integrated Counter UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) Grid). On May 8, India targeted Air Defence Radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan, apart from taking down an Air Defence system in Lahore. All strikes were executed without loss of Indian assets, the government said. MP minister gets it from HC for gutter language A n u r a a g S i n g h @ Bhopal An FIR was filed against state minister Vijay Shah after an appalled Madhya Pradesh High Court on Wednesday lit into him for his scurrilous remarks, saying he used the “language of the gutters” against Col Sofia Qureshi, who was part of the national briefing on Operation Sindoor against Pakistan. The court took suo motu cognisance of media reports and digital evid e n c e, a f t e r which it ordered the police Vijay Shah to file an FIR against him on charges of promoting enmity and hatred. Shah had obliquely referred to Col Qureshi as the “sister of terrorists”. Castigating Shah, the bench said the armed forces were perhaps the last institution in this country that reflect integrity in, dustry discipline, sacrifice, self, lessness, character, honour and indomitable courage. It directed that the matter to be listed on top priority for Thursday .