bengaluru l wednesday l august 20, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l late city EDITION harmanpreet & Co seek their first World Cup trophy As the BCCI announced the squad for the Women’s ODI World Cup to be played in India, a look at the Harmanpreet Kaur-led squad... No Shafali, Renuka returns after long break Spin heavy India look for home glory One of the key debates in the lead up to the selection was whether opener Shafali Verma will get a place. However, her lean run in the T20I series vs England and with India A in Australia meant Verma did not make the cut. Seamer Renuka Singh Thakur, who had been out of action due to injury, will make a comeback in the ODIs against Australia and feature in the World Cup ■ ■ With four frontline spinners and plenty of part-time options in the squad, expect Harmanpreet and Co to use their slower bowlers to control the proceedings Despite the quality of attack, several bowlers will be playing their first ODI WC and will be looking to rise to the occasion | P15 2013 was the last time india hosted the women’s odi world cup 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 amendment Bill on J&K Reorganisation in LS today M u k e s h Ranjan @ New Delhi THE government will introduce The Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2025 in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, which will have a new provision for removal of the Chief Minister or a minister who is arrested and detained in custody on account of serious criminal charges. The amendment bill will only be introduced and scheduled to be sent to a joint committee of the Parliament for scrutiny . The amendment in the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 was required as there was no provision of a legal framework for removal of the Chief Minister or a Minister in such cases, sources said. According to them, the objective of the bill is to make ministers holding office accountable. The draft amendment bill says that a minister, who is facing allegations of serious criminal offences, arrested and detained in custody “may thwart or hinder the canons of constitutional morality and principles of good governance and eventually diminish the constitutional trust reposed by people in him”. Sources said that if a minister is detained in custody for 30 consecutive days, he or she “shall be removed from his office” by the Lieutenant Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister. express read K’taka cabinet tweaks, clears SC internal quota Bengaluru: Karnataka cabinet has cleared the issue of internal reservation within the 17% quota for SCs, based on recommendations of the HN Nagamohan Das Commission. It allocated 6% for SC-Left, 6% for SC-Right, and 5% for all other groups | P4 Beijing to resume key industrial, agri supplies to India India, China signal cautious reset amid trade, border talks J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi IN a sign of thaw in IndiaChina ties, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday assured External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar that Beijing will resume critical exports to India, including fertilisers, rare earth minerals, and tunnel boring machines, addressing three longpending Indian demands. The move, seen as a confidence-building gesture, came just ahead of the 24th round of India-China border talks in New Delhi and was followed by Wang’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Jaishankar is learnt to have underlined the expectation of stable, uninterrupted supply chains for essential inputs during the discussions, which he had raised with the Chinese side earlier as well. Sources said Wang responded positively, committing to facilitate these vital goods. After the visiting Chinese foreign minister called on him, Modi said the relations between the two countries have improved. Modi “welcomed the steady and positive progress in bilateral ties since his meeting with President Xi in Kazan last year, guided by mutual respect, mutual interest and mutual sensitivity, including the resumption of the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra,” an Indian readout said, adding that Modi “reiterated India’s commitment to a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question.” Accepting the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s invita- Wang to visit Pak today After his India trip, Wang will travel to Pakistan on Wednesday to hold the annual strategic dialogue with Pakistan’s deputy PM and foreign minister Ishaq Dar, to be held from August 20 to 22 Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi with Prime Minister Narendra Modi | X tion to attend the upcoming SCO Summit in Tianjin, Modi said he looked forward to meeting Xi again. “Stable, predictable, and constructive bilateral ties will contribute significantly to regional and global peace and prosperity,” he said. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Wang held the 24th round of border talks under the framework of the Special Representatives mechanism. Amid the renewed diplomatic exchanges, sources clarified there was no change in India’s position on Taiwan. “India has always maintained a relationship with Taiwan focused on economic, technological, and cultural ties — that has not changed,” a source said. India has been supporting the one-China policy thought its reflection in joint statements remained by and large absent after Chinese started issuing stapled visa to Indian nationals in Arunanchal Pradesh in 2008. Borders now quiet, says Doval NSA Ajit Doval, who led the border talks, highlighted the calm since last year’s disengagement. “Borders have been quiet, there has been peace and tranquillity...” he said EAM leaves for Russia External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday reached Moscow. During his 3-day trip, he will attend key meetings and also hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov GST overhaul could bring down car prices by up to 10% A r s ha d K han @ New Delhi ‘BEST’ case scenario Commuters are stranded as a couple of BEST buses break down near Kurla in Mumbai on Tuesday due to the downpour. Seven people lost their lives due to heavy rain in Maharashtra, said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis | PTI Gig workers’ bill passed, welfare fee on aggregators Express News Service @ Bengaluru In order to provide social security to gig workers who spend most of their working hours on roads, prone to health hazards, the Kar nataka Assembly passed the Karnataka Platformbased Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2025, on Tuesday. It allows the government to levy a welfare fee of 1 to 5% on aggregators. The Welfare Board will frame the rules and determine the welfare fee. According to Labour Minister Santosh Lad, this is expected to help over 4 lakh gig workers in the state. He said the fee will be based on services of the aggregators as they cannot pre- scribe uniform welfare fee for all. The bill is applicable to those who work with digital platforms to provide services like ride sharing, food and grocery delivery, logistics, e-marketplace for wholesale/retail sale of goods, business to business, business to consumer, professional activity provider, healthcare, travel and hospitality content and media services , and many more to be added in the coming days. Lad said most of the gig workers ride two-wheelers and are exposed to pollution. “To earn Rs 1,800 a day, they work 16 hours on 25 to 30 gigs (works), and spend most of their time in traffic. This bill is for their welfare,’’ he said.  P4 The proposed next-generation GST overhaul could bring down car prices by up to 10% if the tax rate is reduced from 28%to 18%, according to analysts. As part of the wider reforms to boost economic growth, the Centre has proposed moving from four tax slabs to a simplified two-rate system: 5% for essential items and 18% for most other goods. Luxury and sin products could face a steeper levy of around 40%. “Cars currently are under the 28% GST band and if GST is rationalised to 18%, then prices for entry-level cars can come down by 8-10%. Players like Maruti, Hyundai and Tata Motors which have a strong entry-level portfolio are likely to be the key beneficiaries,” Sunny Agrawal, head of fundamental research at SBI Securities, told this newspaper. At present, vehicles are taxed under multiple slabs combining GST and cess. Small cars are taxed at 28%, whereas large cars (above 4 metres in length and 1200cc in engine size) are taxed (including cess) in the range of 43-50%. Global financial firm HSBC estimates that the proposed tax reforms could result in an 8% drop in the prices of small cars. Bigger cars, too, could also become cheaper in the range of 3-5%. HSBC added that this could mean a loss of around $4-5 billion in GST collections for the government. Meanwhile, the prospects of tax cuts have put carmakers in a tight spot as buyers are now holding on to their purses, deferring their purchase plans. Shreyas out, Gill made Surya’s deputy Shubman Gill was named as vice captain in one of the biggest talking points in the 15-man squad the BCCI named for the Asia Cup next month in the UAE. A look... Bumrah in, Shreyas out Jasprit Bumrah whose last T20I was the World Cup final last year earns a recall into the side for the continental event. Shreyas Iyer continues to miss out. Asia Cup runs from Sep 9-28 Gill to open There were some murmurs that the red-ball captain wouldn’t be part of the team but he makes it in a new role as vice-captain. Two mystery spinners Varun Chakravarthy, who excelled in the same conditions in the Champions Trophy, makes it back. He will have Kuldeep Yadav for company | P15 INDIA bloc picks ex-judge Reddy p r e e tha na i r @ New Delhi SETTING the stage for a keen contest for the upcoming Vice Presidential election, the Opposition INDIA bloc on Tuesday named former Supreme Court judge B Sudershan Reddy as its joint candidate to face NDA nominee Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan on September 9. Calling the election for the country’s second-highest office as an ‘ideological battle’, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge , while announcing Reddy’s candidature, termed him as one of India’s most “distinguished and progressive jurists”. Before his appoint- ment to the Supreme Court, Reddy had served as Chief Justice of the Guwahati High Court and as a judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. He retired as a judge of the Supreme Court in 2011. The Opposition believes that Reddy’s candidature is a ‘masterstroke’ as it will blunt the NDA‘s move to upset the ruling DMK government in Tamil Nadu. The DMK was in a tight spot after the NDA picked Radhakrishnan, a seasoned BJP leader from Tamil Nadu with an RSS background, as its VP candidate. An Opposition leader said Reddy’s nomination will unsettle the Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party, a key ally of the BJP at the Centre. “Though the TDP has already extended support for the NDA candidate, the party will be under pressure as Sudershan Reddy commands goodwill in the state,” said a leader adding that the former Judge also has also worked closely with the previous TDP government. Reddy’s candidature has also put fence sitters such as K Chandrashekar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi and Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party in dilemma, said a senior leader. “It will be difficult for the BRS and Jagan Mohan Reddy to go against our candidate now,” he said, adding that INDIA parties will reach out to these neutral players. YSRCP has already declared its support for the NDA nominee.