BENGALURU  SATURDAY  MAY 24, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 22  LATE CITY EDITION SOME RELIEF FOR HARVARD AS FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP FIAT A federal judge on Friday blocked a Trump administration decision to revoke Harvard University’s ability to enroll foreign students ORDER VIOLATES FIRST AMENDMENT, SAYS UNIV DECISION IMPERILS FUTURE OF ALL STUDENTS The relief follows Harvard University suing the Trump administration’s decision to bar the Ivy League school from enrolling foreign students, calling it unconstitutional retaliation for defying the White House’s political demands. Harvard University said the fiat violates the First Amendment and will have a devastating effect for the university | P14 I I Harvard President Alan Garber said the decision imperils the future of thousands of students and scholars and serves as a warning to others The Harvard chapter of American Association of University Professors called the decision “the latest in a string of nakedly authoritarian moves against America’s oldest institution of higher education” 7,000 IS THE NUMBER OF VISA HOLDERS WHO WOULD BE AFFECTED BY THE ORDER CHENNAI I MADURAI I VIJAYAWADA I BENGALURU I KOCHI I HYDERABAD I VISAKHAPATNAM I COIMBATORE I KOZHIKODE I THIRUVANANTHAPURAM I BELAGAVI I BHUBANESWAR I SHIVAMOGGA I MANGALURU I TIRUPATI I TIRUCHY I TIRUNELVELI I SAMBALPUR I HUBBALLI I DHARMAPURI I KOTTAYAM I KANNUR I VILLUPURAM I KOLLAM I TADEPALLIGUDEM I NAGAPATTINAM I THRISSUR I KALABURAGI RBI announces DOUBLE WHAMMY, DRAMA AT 36,000 FEET 2.69 lakh crore bonanza to govt S L A L I T H A @ New Delhi Decides to keep 7.5% of its balance sheet as a financial safeguard against unforeseen shocks D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi THE Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday announced a record `2.69 lakh crore as surplus to the Centre for 2024-25. The decision was taken by RBI’s Central Board of Directors on Friday at Mumbai under the chairmanship of governor Sanjay Malhotra. 2,68,590 SURPLUS The dividend will help CenTRANSFER 2,10,874 tre tide over challenges posed by US tariffs and higher deFIGURES IN RUPEES fence spending in light of the CRORE conflict with Pakistan. 87,416 The latest payout is higher 99,122 than the `2.11 lakh crore that 57,128 RBI transferred to the Centre last year, but is lower than the the `3-3.5 lakh crore projected 30,307 by analysts. This is due to the 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 RBI board’s decision to increase the Contingent Risk The dividend will help Buffer (CRB)—a fund set aside Centre tide over challenges to deal with unexpected situaposed by US tariffs and tions—to 7.5% of RBI’s balance higher defence spending in sheet from 6.5% earlier. light of conflict with Pakistan This is a prudent move given the pressure on US Treasury yields could increase revaluation loss on forex reserves, said CRB was increased to 6% for Gaura Sen Gupta, chief econo- 2022-23 and to 6.5% for 2023-24. mist, IDFC First Bank. AccordUnion Budget estimated `2.6 ing to her, upward pressure on lakh crore as dividend from UST yields could persist due to RBI and PSBs in FY26 against US fiscal risk concerns. `2.3 lakh crore in FY25. A highRBI said the surplus for 2024- er-than-budgeted dividend 25 was based on the revised would help ease the fiscal presECF (economic capital frame- sure on the Centre at a time work) approved by the central when GDP growth in FY26 is board on May 15. likely to slow down a bit. During accounting years “This (`2.69 lakh crore divi2018-19 to 2021-22, owing to the dend) is also `40,000-50,000 prevailing macroeconomic con- crore higher than the amount ditions and the onslaught of that was likely assumed in the Covid-19, the RBI board had de- FY2026 Union Budget, implycided to maintain the CRB at ing an equivalent upside to 5.5% to support growth and non-tax revenues,” said Aditi overall economic activity The Nayar, chief economist, ICRA. . HC: Owners of land on which flat built can’t retain any title EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru THE Karnataka High Court recently ruled that owners of the land on which an apartment complex has been constructed cannot retain any title after they execute sale deeds in respect of the apartment. The high court said that a statement in the sanctioned plan, “remaining area of the proposed property and remaining area of the owner reserved for”, would not infer that the l a n d ow n e r s had retained the property for themselves and could utilise it exclusively and independently of the apartment complex. Justice NS Sanjay Gowda on April 25 passed the order while allowing a petition filed by Keerthi Harmony Apartment Owners Association at Kalkere in the city, questioning the licence granted by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in favour of the landowners, Hanumantha Reddy and others. The landowners had applied and secured approval of the building plan for an apartment building that they proposed to construct. P2 A Delhi-Srinagar IndiGo flight was forced to fly through a severe thunderstorm after being denied access to Pakistani airspace, according to a statement released Friday by the DGCA. The incident occurred on Wednesday when flight 6E 2142, an Airbus A321 Neo with 227 passengers, encountered a hailstorm and intense turbulence while cruising at 36,000 feet near Pathankot. The DGCA said the crew had initially requested a deviation from their planned route due to dangerous weather conditions, but were denied clearance. According to the crew’s ac- DAMAGED NOSE — DGCA statement on the IndiGo scare count, shared by the DGCA, they first contacted IAF’s Northern control, requesting a leftward deviation toward the international border to avoid the storm, ‘What are you doing?’ SC poser on Kota suicides but the request was denied. They then contacted Lahore ATC for entry into Pakistani airspace, which was also refused. Caught in turbulent weather, THE Supreme Court on Friday grilled the Rajasthan government over a surge in student suicides in Rajasthan’s Kota, calling the situation “serious”. A bench of justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan were told 14 suicide cases were reported from the city so far this year. “What are you doing as a state? Why are these children dying by suicide and only in Kota? Have you not given it a thought as a state?” Justice Pardiwala asked the counsel representing Rajasthan. The Supreme Court was hearing a matter of the death of a 22-year-old student from IIT, Kharagpur who was found hanging in his hostel on May 4. It was also simultaneously dealing with another case of a girl, a NEET aspirant, who was found hanging in her room in Kota. In the IIT case, the bench lamabasted the defence over a delay in filing FIR after four days after the death of the student. In the Kota suicide case, the bench disapproved of non-filing of an FIR. Rajasthan’s counsel said the investigation in the case was on and the SIT was aware of suicide cases in the state. “How many young students have died so far in Kota? You are in contempt of our judgement. Why have you not registered the FIR?” the bench asked Rajasthan’s counsel. The bench said the student was not residing in the accommodations provided by her institute, which she left in November 2024 and started living with her parents. The bench then summoned the police officer concerned in the Kota case on July 14 to explain the situation. Karnataka CET results out at 11.30 am today Bangladesh’s interim govt chief Yunus mulls resignation, says report BENGALURU: The results of the Karnataka UGCET 2025 will be declared on Saturday. Students can access their results from 2 pm, on cetonline.karnataka.gov.in and karresults.nic.in. The KEA said Higher Education Minister Dr MC Sudhakar will release the results at 11.30 am at the KEA office here. DHAKA: Bangladesh’s interim government chief Muhammad Yunus is mulling resignation as he is finding it difficult to work in view of political parties failing to reach a common ground. National Citizen Party chief Nhid Islam was quoted in the media that Yunus is apprehensive over the country’s political situation. P14 ‘FAIR’ GAINS How to steal the goddess’ heart? Just steal R A G H O T TA M K O P PA R @ Gadag Devotees prostrate at the Dandina Durgamma fair | EXPRESS For all that, there have been only a few complaints about stealing during the fair, said the local police. The police, however, have cautioned devotees to safeguard their belongings during their visit to the temple. The police had asked the temple management and organisers of the fair to install CCTV cameras at the temple premises as a precaution to ward off potential mischief-makers. But the organisers seem to be reluctant P7 to do so. Every year, many visit the Dandina Durgamma temple for the annual fair. Here, the belief is that if they steal anything, the goddess will bless them. Sanju Harinshikari, a devotee from Gadag the pilots briefly considered turning back. However, with the thunderstorm already surrounding the aircraft, they decided to continue along the same heading, choosing the shortest path out of the storm toward Srinagar. While navigating through the thunderstorm, the aircraft was hit by hail and turbulence, triggering a series of war nings. The DGCA confirmed that the aircraft experienced multiple system alerts, including loss of Alternate Law protection, unreliable backup speed indicators, and “Angle of Attack fault” warnings. The storm’s powerful updrafts and downdrafts also caused the autopilot to disengage, forcing the crew to fly manually. During the peak of the turbulence, the plane’s descent rate spiked to 8,500 feet per minute, while warnings for exceeding maximum speed and possible stalls were repeatedly triggered. The flight crew carried out emergency checklist procedures (ECAM actions) and declared a “PAN PAN” emergency — indicating a situation that is urgent but not immediately life-threatening — to Srinagar ATC. They then requested radar guidance and successfully landed the aircraft with autothrust systems functioning normally No passengers were . injured. 7 rape accused go on victory parade, jailed again K I R A N B A L A N N A N A V A R @ Haveri S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi EXPRESS READ TO err is human, to steal is divine. Not convinced? Come along 10 km from Gadag town on way to Bagalkote, you will find the temple of Dandina Durgamma, where you are not only forgiven for stealing but blessed for the very pious act. Thousands of devotees from north Karnataka and neighbouring states of Maharashtra, AP and Telangana attend the week-long Dandina Durgamma fair, largely a tribal festival, held at the temple premises to receive the blessings of the goddess. Now is your time to go and do some soul searching--the festival began on Tuesday and will continue for a week. And try to hold on to your mobile phones, purses and jewellery. These seem to be the favourite items of thieves at the fair. Our crew contacted Lahore to enter their airspace to avoid the weather but it was refused. Crew then chose to continue at same heading to exit the weather A video grab of the accused atop a car making gestures, during their procession, after their release from the Haveri sub-jail SEVEN accused, who were arrested in a gangrape case and released on bail from the Haveri sub-jail, were ordered to be sent back to the prison again after they went on a “victory parade” with relatives and friends on May 20 after their release. Of the seven, five have been arrested and put back in jail, while two are absconding. Nearly 100 relatives and friends of the accused had gathered near the sub-jail to receive them and later took out the pro- cession to Akkihalur, which is 30 km from Haveri. The court cancelled their bail after a video of the procession went viral. The case relates to a gangrape in January 2024 and the case had been registered at the Hangal police station. Nineteen people were arrested, of whom 12 had got bail, while the seven remained in jail for the last 17 months. After the court granted them bail on May 20, over 100 people, including many of those released earlier, landed near the jail and took the seven acP7 cused in the procession.