kalaburagi l thursday l september 25, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Govt approves `70,000 Crore package to boost shipbuilding The Union cabinet on Wednesday cleared a `69,725 crore package to revitalise India’s shipbuilding sector and reduce dependence on foreign ships File Photo Push for atmanirbharta in shipping sector more medical seats at PG, UG levels The package will extend the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme, help launch a National Shipbuilding Mission, and set up a Maritime Development Fund. It is designed to boost domestic shipbuilding capacity and create substantial job and investment opportunities. It comes a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for Atmanirbharta in the shipping sector ■ ■ In other decisions, the cabinet approved the construction of a 4-lane highway and the doubling of a rail line in Bihar for `6,000 crore It also cleared proposals to strengthen and upgrade existing central and state government medical colleges and add 5,000 postgraduate medical seats and 5,023 MBBS seats at a cost of `15,034 crore | P7 `95,000 cr worth proposals approved by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday 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 Karnataka’s literary giant, SL Bhyrappa, signs off A k n i s r e e K a r t h i k @Bengaluru INSIDE Inquiry panel winds up as govt withdraws staff | P4 Soviet-era MiG-21s to fly into sunset on Sept 26 | P8 A refulgent chapter in Kannada literature came to an end with the passing away of Santeshivara Linganaiah Bhyrappa, popularly known as SL Bhyrappa, at a private hospital in Bengaluru on Wednesday He was 91. He is sur. vived by his wife, Saraswathi, and two sons, SB Udayshankar and SB Ravishankar. Authorities at Jayadev Memorial Rashtrotthana Hospital and Re s e a rch C e n t re i n R a jarajeshwari Nagar said Bhyrappa suffered a cardiac arrest at 2.38 pm. He was moved to the Intensive Care Unit, where he breathed his last, according to the hospital. He had been admitted to the hospital three days ago for age-related illness. The mortal remains of Bhyrappa will be kept for public viewing at Ravindra Kalakshetra in Bengaluru from 8 am till afternoon on on Thursday . His body will be then taken to Mysuru, where it will be kept for public viewing and the last rites will be held with full state honours on Friday . Born at Santeshivara village in Channarayapatna taluk of Hassan district on July 26, 1934 (as mentioned by Bhyrappa in his autobiography), Bhyrappa lost SL Bhyrappa July 26, 1934 – September 24, 2025 his mother and siblings early to the bubonic plague. Left to his own means, he took up jobs, including as a railway porter, to fund his education. He worked as a professor of philosophy across India, including New Delhi, and served as a member of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). Bhyrappa’s literary works spanning over six decades have been among the top-selling ones in Kannada, and he is the only writer whose novels are translated into all scheduled languages in India and foreign languages. Starting with his first Bheemakaya in 1958, he authored over 25 novels, which in all have witnessed over 500 reprints, setting a record.  FULL COVERAGE: P2, 4 5 KILLED in Leh riots Protesters seeking Ladakh statehood clash with police; BJP office torched F AYA Z W ANI @ Srinagar People gather outside the BJP office building in Leh after it was set ablaze by protesters on Wednesday. (Right) Smoke billows out from a structure | PTI AT least five persons were killed and 80 others suffered injuries in Leh district of Ladakh Union Territory on Wednesday as protests demanding statehood and inclusion under Sixth Schedule turned violent. The angry young protesters pelted stones at policemen, torched the BJP office, and damaged public property Some of the . injured are in serious condition. According to sources, tension was brewing since Tuesday after two persons fell ill and had to be hospitalised during the ongoing hunger strike led by climate activist Sonam Wangchuk demanding Sixth Schedule benefits and statehood for Ladakh. Following the violence, Wangchuk called off his hunger strike. On Wednesday, hundreds of youths took to the streets in Leh in response to a call by the Leh Apex Body for shutdown. Chanting slogans, the protesters clashed with security personnel. The youth pelted stones at policemen, who retaliated by firing tear smoke shells and resorting to baton charge. The protesters then set afire police vehicles and a BJP office. Intense clashes continued throughout the day, resulting in casualties and injuries. The authorities clamped prohibitory orders and booked a Congress leader for allegedly making a provocative speech at the hunger strike venue. LAB co-chairman Chering Dorjey said: “We have been agitating peacefully but it went out of control. There was anger; people were disappointed over the delay in talks and were perturbed over October 6 being fixed as the date for talks and not this month.” The Union home ministry charged that the violence was engineered by vested interests. Referring to remarks made by Wangchuk about ‘Arab Spring-style protests’ and on the recent protests in Nepal, it alleged the activist was using the protests to deflect from certain irregularities. India mostly with Ukraine, says Zelenskyy in pushback J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pushed back against US President Donald Trump’s claim that India along with China is a key funder of Rus- Roll revision ‘dirty trick’ of BJP, says CWC R a m a s h a n k a r @ Patna Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that ‘mini-hydrogen, hydrogen, uranium and plutonium bombs’ were being readied for further exposing ‘vote chori’ (vote theft) by the ruling BJP in the next one month. He was speaking at the extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting at Sadaqat Ashram, the party’s headquar ters in Bihar. A political resolution adopted at the meeting dealt with several issues, including ‘vote theft’ and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of polls rolls in the election-bound Bihar. The CWC lauded Rahul for boldly exposing ‘vote theft’ and fighting ‘brazen attempts to subvert democracy’. It described the SIR in Bihar as another dirty trick from the BJP’s toolkit to manipulate electoral rolls. “Their aim is clear: to disenfranchise the poor, workers, backward classes and minorities,” it alleged.  Siddu on GST: P4 sia’s war effort, asserting that New Delhi is “mostly with Ukraine” despite ongoing energy trade with Moscow. In an interview with Fox News, Zelenskyy addressed recent criticism from President Trump, who told the General Assembly that India and China were the “primary funders” of Russia’s war due to their continued purchase of Russian oil. “I think India, mostly, with us,” Zelenskyy said. He acknowledged the challeng- es posed by India’s energy ties with Russia but voiced optimism, placing trust in President Trump’s ability to navigate the issue. “Yes, we have these questions with energy but I think President Trump , can manage them,” he said. US legal thought not relevant here, says HC rejecting X plea Yat h i r a j u @Bengaluru Violence will defeat our five years of efforts and agitation for statehood and 6th Schedule status to Ladakh — Activist Sonam Wangchuk No one can assume that they can treat the Indian marketplace as a mere playground where information can be disseminated in defiance of statutes or disregard to legality and later adopt a posture of detachment, said , the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday, rejecting a petition filed by popular messaging platform X Corp. The petition sought the court to declare that Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 does not confer the authority on the Government of India to issue information-blocking orders under the Act. “The petitioner’s platform is subject to a regulatory regime in the United States of America (USA)... Under the Take It Down Act of the US, it chooses to follow the said Act as it criminalises the violation of orders of take-down, but the same petitioner refuses to follow the same in the shores of this nation (India), of similar take-down orders, which are founded upon illegality ,” said Justice M Nagaprasanna, pronouncing the summary of the findings of the order. X Corp had prayed the court to restrain the Union government from taking coercive or prejudicial action against it for not joining the Censorship (Sahyog) Portal. The court, however, said the portal is an instrument of public good.  CONTINUED ON P4