chennai l Saturday l June 21, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l late city EDITION Govt panel to check fairness of entrance exams, need for coaching The Ministry of Education has set up a panel to suggest ways to reduce students’ dependency on coaching centres for transition to higher education To plug Gaps in current schooling system flags proliferation of ‘Dummy schools’ “The committee will examine the gaps in the current schooling system that contribute to students’ reliance on coaching centres, particularly the limited focus on critical thinking, logical reasoning, analytical skills and innovation and the prevalence of rote learning practices,” news agency PTI quoted a senior Ministry of Education official as saying on Friday ■ ■ Many students prefer to take admission in ‘dummy schools’ so that they can focus solely on their preparations for competitive exams. They don’t attend classes and directly appear in the board exams The panel will also study the effectiveness and fairness of competitive entrance examinations and their influence on the coaching industry 9-member Committee to be headed by Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi 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 Iran eases curbs to fly out 1,000 stranded Indians Declined Trump’s invite to the US to be in the land of the Mahaprabhu, says PM J ayan t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said he declined US President Donald Trump’s invitation for a visit to Washington since he did not want to miss being in Odisha, the sacred land of Mahaprabhu Jagannath. Addressing the gathering here to mark the first anniversary of the BJP government in the state, Modi said it was more important for him to be in the land of Jagannath. “Two days ago, I was in Canada for the G7 Summit when I received a call from Trump. He said since you are already in Canada, why don’t you come down to Washington... I told him it was very important for me to visit the land of Lord Jagannath and declined his offer,” Modi said. IN a major diplomatic move, Iran has eased its airspace restrictions to facilitate the evacuation of Indian nationals stranded there amid escalating conflict. The decision, described as a special gesture by Iranian authorities, allows India to operate emergency evacuation flights to bring its citizens home safely . Three special flights operated by Iran’s Mahan Air will carry 1,000 Indians, including a large number of students, pilgrims, and others, from Iran’s Mashhad and Ashgabat to New Delhi, diplomatic sources said. The first flight will reach India on Friday at 11.30 pm. The other two flights will land at 3.00 am and 4.30 pm on Saturday . The evacuation effort comes under Operation Sindhu, which successfully brought back 110 Indian students from Iran. The students were first moved to Armenia, from there flown to Doha, and finally arrived in Delhi on Thursday morning. Iran’s deputy chief of EU-Iran talks in Geneva mission in New Delhi, Mohammad Javad HosIranian Foreign seini, on Friday reiteratMinister Abbas ed Tehran’s commitment Araghchi on Friday to the safety of foreign held talks with his nationals and highlighted British, French, the cooperation between German, and Iran and India in times of European Union crisis. He said about counterparts, in 10,000 Indians are living Geneva, marking a in Iran and those wishing fresh bid by Europe to return are being evacuto revive dialogue ated, hinting at more on Tehran’s nuclear evacuation flights ahead. programme The evacuation comes amid mounting regional instability as the conflict between Iran and Israel entered the eighth day on Friday Iran . continued to launch ballistic missiles at Israel, hitting buildings in Haifa and injuring 31. Israel said it carried out air strikes targeting Iran’s missile launchers. Meanwhile, several Indians remain stranded in both Iran and Israel. Journalist Raavish Zaidi, a Lucknow native, had a narrow escape when an Israeli missile struck his office inside the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting headquarters in Tehran. His father Amir Abbas Zaidi rued that Raavish could not attend teh last rites of his mother, who passed away a few days ago in Lucknow. Shia cleric Maulana Saif Abbas said he was approached by several families whose relatives are stranded in Iran. He said many families travelled to Iran for pilgrimage. “Unfortunately war broke out. Thousands are stuck... , and running out of essentials,” he said.  P13 (With inputs from Namita Bajpai in Lucknow) leopard drags four-year-old girl standing near her mother into forest at Valparai in kovai on friday The victim, a native of Jharkhand, was attacked and taken away by a leopard on Friday evening when she was standing in front of her home at Valparai in Coimbatore. Forest, police and fire services personnel have launched a search operation Roshini Kumari to locate the girl inside the forest. Speaking to TNIE, Valparai forest ranger Suresh Krishnan said that there was no trace of the girl until Friday 9.30 pm | P4 E x pr e ss N e w s S e rvi c e @ Bhubaneswar leeds from front India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and captain Shubman Gill score hundreds in the first Test against England at Leeds on Friday. Gill became the fifth Indian to score a hundred in the first Test as leader. India scored 359 for 3 on Day 1 | AP | P15 Tharoor on fresh diplomatic push, leaves for Russia 2-week assignment handed by Modi comes at a time when Pak-US axis is building up P r e e t h a N air @ New Delhi Days after wrapping up a multi-nation tour on Operation Sindoor, the Centre has assigned Congress MP Shashi Tharoor a second round of diplomatic outreach to countries such as Russia, the UK and possibly Greece, said sources. The Thiruvananthapuram MP who left for Moscow on Fri, day, is on a two-week mission, said sources familiar with the developments. The mission aims to further bolster India’s position among all-weather allies and to amplify the country’s voice, said sources. During the twoweek trip, Tharoor will be liaising with Indian diplomatic missions in various countries. His visit to Russia assumes significance amid the softening of the ties between the US and Pakistan. India has reasons to worry after Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, recently held a one-on-one meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House for more than two hours. Sources said that the government was keen on sending Tharoor for another round of diplomatic push as the all-party delegation led by him was considered as one of the most im- pactful ones. The team led by Tharoor has also visited the United States, where they met Vice President J D Vance and Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. During the meeting with Landau, the Tharoor-led delegation explained to him India’s stance against terrorism, with Operation Sindoor being launched in response to the brutal April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Tharoor and all the other members of the all-party delegations of Operation Sindoor at his residence, 7 Lok Kalyan Marg last Tuesday, sources said that the PM held a separate meeting with Tharoor the next evening. “T he PM spoke with Tharoor for an hour on the new assignment and his responsibilities,” said the source. During his meeting with the MPs, the PM is learnt to have said that such endeavours could be institutionalised in future. Tharoor, who is the head of the standing committee of the External Affairs Ministry, has also chaired the meeting of the panel on June 17. It was not clear whether Tharoor had informed the Congress leadership about the new diplomatic mission. succession Dalai may name reincarnation on July 2 Ba l a C h au h an @ Bengaluru The ageing Dalai Lama, Tibet’s highest spiritual leader, will make an important announcement, most likely on his reincarnation on July 2, four days before he turns 90. Speaking to this paper, Penpa Tsering, president of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) revealed that the Dalai will make an “important announcement on July 2. It is likely to be on his reincarnation.” The Dalai is scheduled to meet senior leaders of the four Buddhist sects - Sakya, Kagyu, Nyingma and Gelug between July 2 and 4 at Dharamshala, the headquarters of the CTA. The identity of the Dalai’s reincarnation is keenly awaited not only by Tibetans but by people in the Himalayan region as well, from Lhasa to Arunachal Pradesh, as they look up to him as their spiritual guide. China, too, wants to know, as it sees the Dalai as a separatist leader and symbol of Tibetan resistance. In March 2011, the Dalai relinquished his role as the political head of the Tibetans in exile and handed it over to the CTA. He had said that his successor will be born in a free world, in a clear message to China on claim on having the sole right to choose the next Dalai Lama. “It is important to remember that the Dalai is not only the leader of all the Tibetans, but also of one million Indian Himalayans,” noted Tibetologist Claude Arpi said. It is not up to a Marxist govt in China to decide on the highly esoteric and spiritual issue of the Dalai Lama’s successor... But the succession has important implications for Beijing’s control over Tibet Claude Arpi, Tibetologist HC stays ED proceedings against producer, bizman in Tasmac case R S I V A K U M A R @ Chennai The Madras High Court on Friday stayed all further proceedings of the Enforcement Directorate against film producer Akash Bhaskaran and businessman Vikram Ravindran regarding a money laundering probe connected to the alleged `1,000 crore scam in Tasmac. A bench of Justices MS Ramesh and V Lakshminarayanan passed the interim order on the petitions filed by Bhaskaran and Ravindran after finding that the ED’s search operations were “wholly without jurisdiction” as the agency had no incriminating material against the petitioners. “Interim stay on all further proceedings (by the ED) against the petitioners pursuant to authorisation on 15.5.2025 pending disposal of the (main) writ petitions,” the court said. The bench also ordered the ED to return all the properties of the petitioners that were seized and sealed during the search held on May 16 until the main writ petitions were decided.  P7 express read Sun TV says Dayanidhi statement defamatory Chennai: A day after DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran slapped notice on brother Kalanithi alleging fraud in transfer of Sun TV shares, the firm said the statement is defamatory and not based on facts | P4 Rear axle detaches from govt bus in Tenkasi, 6 hurt Tenkasi: Four school students, a nursing student, and an elderly man were injured on Friday after the rear axle of a TNSTC bus got detached when it was in motion on Thirumangalam-Kollam NH | P2