chennai l wednesday l july 09, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l late city EDITION Only 53% of Class 6 students know tables up to 10: govt Representational Image half of class 3 kids know subtraction The findings were a part of a survey by Education Ministry covering 21,15,022 students in Grades 3, 6 and 9, spread across 74,229 schools in India According to the survey, only 55% of students in Class 3 can arrange numbers up to 99 in ascending or descending order while 58% can perform addition and subtraction of two-digit numbers. In Class 6, 53% of students know addition and multiplication tables up to 10 and can apply the four basic operations on whole numbers to solve daily life problems | P9 ■ 36 Class 9 govt schools shine in languages ■ In Class 6, an additional subject ‘The World Around Us’, which covers environment and society, was introduced alongside Language and Mathematics. Students scored lowest in Mathematics (46%) In the case of Class 9, students from Central Government schools performed the best across all subjects, with a clear lead in languages states were covered in the learning survey by the centre 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 Ahead of election, Nitish tweaks job quota for women Restricts 35% reservation for women in govt employment to only those who hail from Bihar too, were appointed as teachers in government-run schools in Bihar With Bihar assembly elections under the quota. less than four months away the Ni, The decision to restrict the quotish Kumar government on Tues- ta came amid intense push for imday restricted the 35% quota in plementing the domicile policy by place for women in all government the Opposition. Leader of Opposijobs since 2016, to only those who tion Tejashwi Prasad Yadav had hail from the state. supported the domicile demand of The decision was seen as an at- job aspirants for teaching positempt by Nitish to further consoli- tions in government schools, who date his already strong female took out a protest march and held vote-bank. a demonstration in Patna A final call to enforce the recently . domicile criteria was taken This is the first instance at a meeting of the state of domicile policy being cabinet chaired by Chief implemented by the state Minister Nitish Kumar. government in the recent “Only women native of past. Union minister NityBihar will be eligible for anand Rai said, “The deciNitish Kumar 35% horizontal reservation sion will ultimately make in direct recruitment women from the state selfacross all government service cad- reliant and embolden them.” res in Bihar,” said S Siddharth, adIn another pre-poll sop, the the ditional chief secretary after the cabinet decided to set up a Bihar , meeting. Youth Commission to enhancejob Till now, women from outside opportunities for them. JD(U) the state, too, were beneficiaries of spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said the 35% reservation in govern- it will make the youth self-reliant, ment jobs. skilled and job-oriented. Siddharth said, “Women from However, Tejashwi accused the other states applying for Bihar Nitish government of ‘stealing’ government jobs will be treated as the promises made by the RJD. general category They will not get “The 20-year-old tired government . the benefit of 35% women’s reser- has no vision of its own. People vation.” Earlier, candidates from want to get rid of the government,” neighbouring UP and elsewhere, he told the media. R a m a s h a n k a r @ Patna The mangled school van after the collision with train at a manned level crossing in Cuddalore on Tuesday morning | sriram r 3 schoolkids killed as train rams into van in Cuddalore B a g a l a v a n P e r i e r B @ Cuddalore Three students, including a girl and her brother, died on the spot when the VillupuramMayiladuthurai passenger train rammed into a school van as it was passing through a manned level crossing at Semmankuppam village, around 10km south of the Cuddalore Port railway station, at 7.20 am on Tuesday . The deceased included T Charumathi (16) and her brother T Chezhian (15) of Subramaniapuram village, who were students of Class 11 and Class 10, respectively, and V Nimalesh (12) of Thondamanatham, a Class 6 student. Nimalesh’s brother V Viswesh (16), classmate of Chezhian, survived with injuries along with van driver C Sankar (47) of Manjakuppam. The children were all students of Krishnaswamy Vidyanikethan School at S Kumarapuram in Cuddalore. P Annadurai (55), a Good Samaritan who rushed to help the victims, was badly injured after he came into contact with a high-tension wire that snapped from the pole of railway’s over- T Charumathi (16), T Chezhian (15) and V Nimalesh (12) | express head electric system. The survivors and locals said the gate, which is non-interlocked with the signalling system unlike the modern interlocked gates, was not closed for the train by gatekeeper Pankaj Sharma. The Southern Railway, however, citing “preliminary inquiries”, claimed in a release that Sharma had closed the gate but opened it after being pressured by Sankar, an allegation the driver denied. The Government Railway Police have registered an FIR for negligence and arrested Sharma. He should not have opened the gate even if pressured, railway authorities said. CM M K Stalin and the Southern Railway have separately announced `5 lakh each for the families of the deceased.  full coverage on P2 2-yr-old infant among 4 killed in Thanjavur car-truck crash Express News Service @ Thanjavur Four of a family including , a two-year-old infant, died and two others sustained injuries after their car crashed into a mini truck coming in the wrong lane on ThanjavurKumbakonam Road on Tuesday morning. As per sources, the deceased — C Kumar (53), his wife Jaya (55), daughter Durga (32) and granddaughter S Ethazhani Thoorika — and two other family members were on their way to the Thanjavur Big Temple from Kumbakonam. The family from Perungalathur, Chennai, was on a pilgrimage. While passing through Kurungalur on the Vikravandi-Thanjavur highway, a mini truck transporting paddy saplings came speeding towards the car on the wrong side leading to the collision, sources said. While Jaya was killed on the spot, her daughters Durga and Monisha (30), and sonin-law U Stalin (36) were rushed to the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital. P7 2 from b’luru college killed in car crash | P7 e x pr e s s r e a d Custody death: CBI told to finish probe by Aug 20 HC slams TN for closing all 124 plaints on ex-min Will form panel to probe DMK govt’s debt: EPS Chennai: The Madras HC on Tuesday ordered the CBI director to appoint an Investigating Officer along with required number of officials in a week to probe the custodial death of Ajithkumar, and file a final report on or before August 20 | P4 Chennai: Questioning TN police for closing all 124 plaints filed against ex-minister K Ponmudy in the alleged hate speech case, the Madras HC said it won’t remain a mute spectator, would keep the contempt case open and keenly watch police | P5 Chennai: Accusing the DMK government of allegedly accumulating `4.38 lakh crore debt despite increase in revenue, AIADMK chief EPS said a panel will be formed to probe TN’s borrowings after the AIADMK wins the 2026 elections | P4 Trade deal ball in u.s. court: India D i pa k Mo n d a l @ New Delhi With the US government sending letters to over a dozen countries informing them of the reciprocal tariff they are likely to attract on exports to the US, the suspense over the trade deal with India continues. Even as President Donald Trump on Monday hinted that the US is hours away from announcing a deal with India, back home the government is in a wait-and-watch mode. “The ball is in the US court, we negotiated with the US officials, now it is up to them,” said an official, who refused to be identified. Citing the Vietnam trade deal announced by the US, the official said Trump has been unilaterally making a lot of announcements, which are later refutDonald Trump ed by the respective countries. The Indian government was confident of signing a limited deal by July 9, but with the US issuing a new deadline of August 1, the announcement may get delayed. The Indian government has maintained that it is not desperate for an early trade deal at the cost of the country’s interest. Dassault rubbishes Pak propaganda, says only one IAF Rafale crashed FATF: Terrorists abused e-comm sites Express News Service @ New Delhi THE protracted debate on loss of the Indian Air Force’s Rafale combat jets, which Pakistan claimed to have shot down, was debunked by the CEO of Dassault, which manufactures the fighter aircraft. Dassault Aviation Chairman and CEO Eric Trappier was quoted as saying that no Rafale was shot down in combat, but India had lost one aircraft due to technical failure, and a probe into it is currently on. Trappier was quoted by French website Avion De Chasse as saying that there was no enemy engagement in the loss of a Rafale. The incident “occurred at an altitude of over 12,000 metres during an extended training mission, with no enemy involvement or hostile radar contact,” the report said. Terror financing watchdog FATF cited the February 2019 Pulwama terror attack to point out that e-commerce platforms were misused by terror outfits. FATF said aluminium used in IED used in the 2019 attack was procured through Amazon by terror outfits Speaking specifically on Pakistan’s allegations that three Indian Dassault Rafales were reportedly shot down during the four-day Operation Sindoor launched by India, Trappier said the allegations were “inaccurate and unfounded”. Trappier took on Pakistan for false claims in a press conference on June 15, which Avion De Chasse reported. During the press conference, Trappier formally refuted the idea of an operational failure, quoting the Spectra electronic warfare systems that had not recorded any hostile engagements during the time slot in question. Further, the friend/foe identification devices and the flight logs transmitted to Dassault indicated no losses in actual combat, he said. As per the French Intelligence and military officials, it was China which was behind the smear campaign against the Rafale fighters. R C B pip m i IPL’s business value worth over `155,000 cr S w a r oo p S w a m i n at h a n @ Chennai THE business value of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has jumped by over 10 per cent in the last year, according to the global investment firm, Houlihan Lokey HL, who have come . out with yearly IPL brand valuation studies, held that IPL’s current business value stands at $18.5bn (over `155,000 cr; in 2024, it was $16.4bn). The firm said that the IPL’s brand value has also surged from $3.4bn to $3.9bn (over `32,000 cr). “This g r ow t h u n d e r s c o r e s t h e league’s expanding commercial appeal, global reach and deepening fan engagement,” the report said. The 18th edition of the league, won by Bengaluru franchise for the first time last month, helped the franchise become the No. 1 in terms of brand value in the 10-team league. Its brand value in 2025 stands at just under $270mn, up by 18.5% in the last 12 months. Chennai Super Kings, who had a blowout season, fell down to third place. In fact, out of all 10 teams, the franchise registered the lowest percentage gain (less than 2%) on a year on year basis. Punjab Kings, who advanced to the final, registered a whopping Brand values have increased for all 10 teams IPL continues Teams 2025 2024 change RCB MI CSK KKR SRH 269 227 18.5% 242 204 18.6% 235 231 1.7% 227 216 5.1% 154 132 16.7% Teams 2025 2024 change DC RR GT PBKS LSG 152 146 142 141 122 131 16% 133 9.8% 124 14.5% 101 39.6% 91 34.1% All figures in $mn All data from Houlihan Lokey’s IPL Valuation Study 2025 (a copy of the report is with this daily) to show increased brand and business values (in $bn) 3.2 3.4 3.9 15.4 16.4 18.5 2023 2024 2025 Business Brand 39.6% jump in brand value. The IPL’s principal stakeholders like to compare themselves with the US’ Big Four and the EPL and HL maintain that they are expected to become bigger in the years to come as there are several built in advantages. “When benchmarked against global peers like EPL and NBA teams,” the report added, “that wrestle with high player transfer fees, variable wages and high stadium operating costs (including servicing stadium debt), IPL franchisees operate with an asset-light, revenue-guaranteed model, a structure that not only cushions downside risk but also amplifies operating leverage on the upside.” balancing act People use a raft made of banana stems to shift to a safer place from a floodaffected area at Dighal Jarani village in Hojai district, Assam, on Tuesday | PTI Indian nurse in Yemen to be executed on July 16 Express News Service @ New Delhi INDIAN nurse Nimisha Priya, who was handed a death penalty in Yemen, will reportedly be executed on July 16, but her family said they have not received any information yet. Human rights activist Samuel Jerome who is part of the team to save her, told this paper, “a letter of execution has been issued and jail authorities have officially informed me of the date. I am now back in Yemen ... there is still hope if the victim’s family accepts the blood money . Some people have come forward again to help her.” There was no official word on the development. But sources told this newspaper, “Nimisha Priya was convicted for murder in Yemen in June 2018 and a local court handed out death sentence to her. We have been closely following the matter since then.” To my T h o mas, Nimisha’s husband, said Nimisha Priya “We haven’t received any official communication. We only learned about it through media reports and are waiting.” Samuel is involved in negotiations with Yemeni authorities and the family of the vict i m , Ta l a l A b d o M a h d i . According to reports, the Yemeni public prosecutor has issued an order scheduling the execution for July 16. The death sentence was upheld by Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council in November 2023. The ruling allowed for possibility of clemency by paying blood money to the victim’s family This aspect . is the focus of Nimisha Priya Action Council, which is working to save her life.