Firecracker ban in NCR: SC seeks pan-India policy The Supreme Court on Thursday raised pointed questions over the selective imposition of the firecracker ban in the Delhi-NCR region, saying if clean air was a right for “elite” residents of the national capital, the same must extend to citizens across the country. “If cities in NCR are entitled to clean air, why not people of other cities?... Whatever policy has to be there, it has to be on a pan-India basis. We cannot have a policy just for Delhi because they are elite citizens of the country,” Chief Justice B R Gavai said | P9 belagavi l saturday l september 13, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION 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 Retired SC Chief Justice’s demand to dissolve Nepal’s parliament accepted Gen Z pick Sushila Karki sworn in as interim PM N epal has made his- pose decades of corruption. tory once again. The Born on 7 June 1952 in Biratcountry’s first female nagar, Karki is no stranger to Chief Justice, Sushi- challenges. She became Nepal’s la Karki, has now be- first female Chief Justice in come its first female July 2016 and served until June Prime Minister. She 2017. During her tenure, she was sworn in by President Ram faced a no-confidence motion Chandra Poudyal at his office, from the Nepali Congress but Sheetal Niwas, on Friday It fol- remained steadfast in her com. lowed the dissolution of the m i t m e n t t o j u s t i c e a n d elected government headed by transparency . K P Sharma Oli. Throughout her career, she Karki and the Gen Z protest- refused to bow to political presers had made it clear sure or corruption — that she would step in a reputation that only after Parliament made her the natural was dissolved — a dechoice to lead the mand that has now country through this been fulfilled. Former transitional period. PM Baburam BhattaThe Gen Z protest, rai and a clutch of dipwhich began on Seplomats, including from Namrata Sharma tember 8, quickly esIndia, China and the calated into a nationSenior journalist and US, attended the swearwide uprising. Streets ing-in event. The first women rights advocate. across Nepal saw cabinet is expected to Sharma can be reached at widespread vandalnamrata1964@yahoo.com meet later in the day . ism, with both public @NamrataSharmaP September 12, the and private property fifth day of the Gen Z damaged. Daily life protest, will be remembered as came to a standstill, hitting daia defining moment in Nepal’s ly wage earners particularly political history — a day when hard. In the process, the hidden the youth, united and resolute, wealth of top political leaders toppled a government, dis- was exposed. Reports of sacks solved parliament, and helped of cash found in the homes of elevate a woman known for her Nepali Congress president anti-corruption crusade to the Sher Bahadur Deuba and Forhighest executive office. eign Minister Arzoo Rana DeuThis unprecedented move- ba have shocked the nation. Enment inspired young people raged citizens — not just Gen Z globally, proving that when protesters — vandalised the youth unite, they can disman- residences of several accused tle entrenched regimes and ex- leaders.  Continued on P9 Nepal’s President Ramchandra Paudel administers the oath of office to Sushila Karki as prime minister on Friday | PTI Married a revolutionary Karki is the eldest of seven siblings She grew up in a simple farming family in Biratnagar Karki married Durga Prasad Subedi, an erstwhile popular leader of Nepali Congress. They had met during her days at the BHU Subedi was a youth revolutionary member of Nepali Congress during the 1970s He was part of the group that hijacked a Royal Nepal Airlines aircraft to get INR 3 million to fund the party’s armed revolution against King Birendra Shah in 1973 The hijacked plane carrying Nepal Rastra Bank’s money landed at Forbesganj in India After retirement, Karki wrote two books, including ‘Nyay’, her biography Snap polls in six months President Ramchandra Paudel said the new caretaker government is mandated to hold fresh parliamentary elections within six months 8 die in Hassan Shabby probes beat purpose of SIT, as tanker runs give advantage to culprits: Spl court over procession valuable time, huge manpower and public money not only defeats the very purThe Special Court for the trial of cases pose for which the SIT came into existunder the Prevention of Corruption ence, but also becomes an advantage for Act has raised serious questions over the true culprits to escape from their the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of criminal liabilities. In fact, the investiKarnataka Lokayukta probing illegal gation at the hands of the SIT in all othmining filing ‘B’ reports er cases which are pend(closure reports) and leting before this court is no ting off the prime acbetter than this condition. press cused in the chargesheet clusive Many cases are seen to in many cases. have ended in filing of ‘B’ The Special Court said, Reports (closure reports), “Needless to say the SIT has been con- and the go-by given to the prime accused , stituted to undertake the investigation persons in a considerable number of and subject the real culprits of illegal cases pending before this court.” mining in the state to law, to protect the The court ordered that a copy of this public property and prevent the huge order be sent to the SIT chief to ensure financial loss at the hands of the vested further investigation and submit an adinterests. But the shabby, poor and in- ditional report within two months. complete investigation at the cost of the  CONTINUED ON P7 Yat h i r a j u @Bengaluru E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @Hassan Eight persons were killed on the spot, while 25 others were injured after a speeding tanker ploughed through a Ganesha idol immersion procession at Mosalehosahalli village in Hassan taluk on Friday night. Eight of the injured are in a serious condition. The police said the tanker, which was speeding, was heading towards Mysuru from Hassan when the accident occurred. The driver reportedly lost control of the vehicle while trying to avoid a motorist. CONTINUED ON P7 Asia cup: At `12L/10 secs, India-Pak match tops advertisers’ bill S w a r o o p S w a m i n at h a n @ Bengaluru THE Indian cricketing economy continues to remain recession proof. Post the ban on real money gaming, it was looking at a hole but it’s on course to pass its first big test — ad rates for the group-stage encounter between India and Pakistan on Sunday as well as selling all available ad slots for the said game. Over the last few years, advertisements around live coverage of cricket’s marquee properties were fronted by real money gaming firms. But their exit hasn’t affected the market. Media planners have told this daily that the broadcaster, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI), have sold ‘all ad inventory for the India - Pakistan match’. Ad inventory is basically the India captain Suryakumar Yadav and Pakistan skipper Salman Agha | file pic total space made available by the broadcaster to the advertisers to purchase. It’s expected that ad rates for the Sunday encounter has been sold for well over `12 lakh for a 10 second slot. With there being the potential of two more matches between the rivals, the interest may only rise. It also kind of paints a picture as there has been intermittent calls of boycotting the game (some Indian brands did actively become part of this post the Pahalgam tragedy in April). But that hasn’t translated into reality as some big companies have come on board. “It’s all a question of visibility,” says Prahlad Kakkar, an advertising guru, whose commercials came to dominate the cricketing ad space in the nineties and naughts. “It’s worth to pay `20 lakh for a 10 second slot for a game between India and Pakistan because everybody is watching it,” he says. “Even your personal cabbie will take time off to watch it. People watch it because it becomes more than a game in their eyes.” Kakkar is of the opinion that this particular game has become bigger than the game because ‘of the sentiment involved’. Major scare as plane loses wheel, lands safely e x p r e ss n e w s s e r v i c e @ Mumbai A SpiceJet Q400 aircraft carrying 75 passengers made a safe emergency landing in Mumbai on Friday after losing a wheel shortly after takeoff from Kandla airport in Gujarat. The aircraft landed at Mumbai airport’s Runway 27 at 3.51 pm with all passengers and crew safe, Mumbai airport operator MIAL said. Operations at the airport were briefly impacted. The flight departed at 2.38 pm against the scheduled time of 1.25 pm from Kandla and landed in Mumbai at 3.51 pm, as per information available on flight tracking website Flightradar24.com. “On September 12, an outer wheel of a SpiceJet Q400 aircraft operating from Kandla to Mumbai was found at the runway after take-off. The aircraft continued its journey to Mumbai and landed safely ,” the airline said in a statement. There were 75 passengers onboard the Bombardier Q400 plane, which is used for operating regional flights, officials said. One of the officials said that one rear right wheel of the aircraft was missing. Without naming the airline, MIAL said an aircraft from Kandla made an emergency landing at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport after a technical issue. Caste census Exercise to cost `420 cr; report likely by Dec: CM E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Bengaluru The Social and Educational Survey called the caste census , more informally, will be conducted from September 22 to October 7 by as many as 1.75 lakh enumerators, covering over 7 crore population of the state. The survey is estimated to cost Rs 420 crore and the report is expected to be ready by December this year, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told the media here on Friday . He said the Kantharaju and Jayaprakash Hegde caste census reports are old and based on the survey conducted in 2015. The new survey has been entrusted to Madhusudhan Naik, who is heading the Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission. The state has over two crore families. “Through the new survey we , aim to get data on our government’s guarantee schemes. The commission has assured us that the report would be submitted by December,’’ he said. “The government chose 1.75 lakh school teachers as enumerators as Dasara vacation is coming up. Each enumerator will cover 120-150 houses and will be paid Rs 20,000. Though the enumeration will cost Rs 325 crore, the state government will pay Rs 420 crore. If needed, the government will pay more,” he said. Several technologies will be used in the survey to make it accurate and comprehensive. Each household will be geo-tagged using the Revenue Registration Number of electricity meters and will be given a Unique Household ID (UHID). So far, UHID has been issued to 1.55 lakh homes. Asha workers will visit each house and give the format that has 60 questions. When enumerators visit, people can answer these questions. P4