NAGAPATTINAM l tuesday l november 04, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l CITY EDITION Centre launches ` 1 lakh crore Research & Development fund Want to foster culture of R&D: Modi Modi launched the Research, Development and Innovation Fund at the first-ever Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave in Delhi. He said the government would support high-risk, high-impact projects to help India emerge as a science and technology powerhouse. “Our goal is to foster a culture of research and development,” Modi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched a `1 lakh crore fund to spur private sector investment in research and development Govt’s focus on ease of doing research ■ ■ He said the government was focusing on the ‘Ease of Doing Research’ to foster a modern ecosystem of innovation in India | p7 “Government has introduced significant reforms. We have streamlined incentives and supply chain frameworks to accelerate the transition of prototypes from the lab to the market,” PM said 0.6% of GDP is how much India spends annually on R&D 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 DMK asks SC to stop SIR in TN Russia, China testing “Russia’s testing, China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it...We have to talk about it, otherwise you people are going to report. They don’t have reporters that are going to be writing about it,” Trump said K E Z HILARASAN @ Chennai Following the decision taken at the all-party meeting on Sunday the ruling DMK on Monday , filed a petition before the Supreme Court with a plea to quash the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls that is set to begin across Tamil Nadu today (November 4). The petition charged that the unconstitutional exercise aims at mass disenfranchisement by introducing an arbitrary cut-off date (2002/2005) and by excluding commonly Don: Pak on list of nations doing N-weapons test SIR demanding citizenship-like proof By imposing citizenship-like burden of proof, the SIR appears to act as a de facto National Register of Citizens. ECI does not have power to assess citizenship, DMK said used documents such as ration card, PAN card and Voter ID from the purview of the process. The petition may come up for hearing on November 6 or 7. In his affidavit, DMK organisation secretary RS Bharathi argued that the SIR constitutes a violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution, including equality before law (Article 14), the right to freedom (Article 19), and protection of life and personal liberty (Article 21). The affidavit further contended that the SIR contravenes Article 324, which vests powers with the Election Commission, and Article 325, which prohibits exclusion from electoral rolls on grounds of religion, race, caste, or sex. It also claimed that the SIR is inconsistent with the provisions of the Representation of the People Act of 1950.  P5 If validated, it could raise serious concerns about Pak’s compliance with global norms tn horror Student raped by 3 men near Kovai airport, friend assaulted claim if substantiated, could raise serious concerns about IsIn a provocative new claim lamabad’s compliance with inthat has stirred debate, US ternational norms. Pakistan President Donald Trump listed last conducted public nuclear Pakistan among several na- detonations in May 1998, followtions that are currently con- ing India’s Pokhran-II tests. ducting nuclear weapons tests, Islamabad has not yet issued a statement that could have far- any official response, though reaching global implications. its long-standing position In an interview aired on CBS maintains that its nuclear proNews’ 60 Minutes, Trump de- gramme is purely defensive fended his administraand governed by strict tion’s controversial decommand-and-control cision to resume nuclear mechanisms. The comtesting after more than ments have drawn We’re going to three decades. He said scrutiny from both test because countries like Russia, strategic analysts and they test and China, North Korea, others test. And inter national diploand Pakistan were al- certainly North mats, who warn that ready conducting such such allegations could Korea’s been testing. tests, while the US had strain Washington’s alPakistan’s “held back”. ready complex relabeen testing He claimed the US tions with Islamabad does not “necessarily and heighten tensions Donald Trump, know” where these across South Asia. US President “powerful” nations are Amid growing questesting nuclear weapons, but tions about the scope of the asserted the testing is being planned US testing, Energy done. “They they test way un- Secretary Chris Wright clari, der, underground where peo- fied in a Fox News interview ple don’t know exactly what’s that the administration’s prohappening with the test. You posal does not involve live nufeel a little bit of a vibration. clear detonations. “These are They test and we don’t test. We system tests — non-critical exhave to test,” he said. plosions,” Wright explained. The remarks mark the first “They involve all other parts time a sitting US president has of the nuclear weapon to make publicly talked about Pakistan sure they deliver the right gecontinuing nuclear testing, a ometry and safety functions.” J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Express News Service @ Coimbatore Remnant of the TGSRTC bus after a truck hit it in Ranga Reddy district | PTI One of the vehicles damaged in the accident near Jaipur on Monday | PTI Reckless driving two days, 29 deaths 19 killed as truck rams into bus in Telangana S i dd h a r d h a G at t i m i @ Hyderabad IN one of the worst road tragedies in Telangana in recent memory at least 19 people, in, cluding 14 women and a 10-month-old baby were killed , and 25 injured when a gravelladen tipper lorry rammed a TGSRTC bus near Mirzaguda village in Chevella mandal of Rangareddy on Monday . The collision occurred around 6.15 am on the Hyderabad–Bijapur highway. Police said the tipper, carrying gravel from Patancheru to Man- neguda, was overloaded and speeding when its driver tried to overtake another vehicle. To avoid a pothole, the driver swerved abruptly veered into , the wrong side and crashed into the oncoming bus carrying 72 passengers. The impact was catastrophic. The front of the bus was crushed beyond recognition, killing both drivers — truck driver Akash Kamle (24) of Maharashtra, and RTC driver Dastagiri Baba. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered. 14 dead near Jaipur as truck hits parked cars r a j e s h a s n a n i @ Jaipur A day after 15 people were killed and two injured in Phalodi district of Rajasthan when a mini bus collided with a trailer along the Bharatmala Highway a tragic , road accident in Jaipur’s Harmada area on Monday afternoon left 14 people dead and over 18 injured. A speeding dumper truck lost control and rammed into 17 vehicles, creating devastation that eyewitnesses termed “unbearable to watch.” The accident occurred around 1 pm near the Loha Mandi area of Harmada. According to Jaipur District Collector Jitendra Soni, the dumper truck was heading towards the Loha Mandi petrol pump when its brakes gave up. The impact was so severe that the truck crushed vehicles for over 300 metres before coming to a halt. Eye-witnesses said the driver appeared to be drunk. An ex-gratia of `2 lakh has been announced for the next of kin of each deceased. NLCIL lands in dock over `332 cr Biren tapes tampered, cost overrun for township project top forensic lab tells SC express read CM challenges PM over Bihar remark Dharmapuri: DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of spreading lies regarding attack on Bihar workers in Tamil Nadu for electoral gains and challenged the prime minister to repeat the same divisive remarks when he is speaking in Tamil Nadu | P4 of a plea filed by the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (Kohur), seeking a courtAudio recordings allegedly monitored probe into certain implicating former Manipur leaked audio clips that allegedChief Minister N Biren Singh ly implicate Singh in instigatin the 2023 ethnic violence in ing the ethnic violence. the state were tamA two-judge bench pered with and are not comprising Justice Sanscientifically fit for jay Kumar and Justice voice comparison, the Alok Aradhe directed National Forensic Scithat a copy of the NFence Laboratory SL’s report be shared (NFSL), Gandhinagar, with all parties and listhas informed the Sued the case for further Biren Singh preme Court. hearing on 8 December. “As the said audio is Kohur alleged that the tampered with, no opinion on tapes, shared by an anonymous the similarity or dissimilarity whistleblower, contained phone of the speakers could be of- conversations held by Singh, fered,” the NFSL told the court. “establishing the complicity of The submission of the NFSL the highest functionary and were made during the hearing others” in the ethnic violence. SU C HITRA KALYAN MOHANTY C SHIVAKUMAR @ Chennai Pvt company awarded contract for `524.5 crore Neyveli Lignite Corporation The contract for Talabira township was awarded to KPC Projects India Ltd (NLCIL), a PSU major Ltd for `524.5 crore by HITES/NLCIL— a value employees describe under the coal ministry, is unas “exorbitant”. The original cost estimated was `192 crore der scrutiny for allegedly bypassing standard tendering norms in appointing a project ments available with TNIE and commodation for CISF personmanagement consultant people familiar with the devel- nel, a mid-sized hospital, and an (PMC), which eventually opment, the `192-crore inte- indoor stadium, and access and led to a massive cost overgrated township project was approach road to highways. run of nearly `332 crore. originally designed by NLThe township was initially It appointed a consultCIL’s Central Technical meant to be tendered alongside ant on nomination Office (CTO), as is the boiler, turbine, and other EPC basis to award an inpractice since the in- work. The bidder, Bharat Heavy tegrated township ception of the compa- Electricals Ltd (BHEL), howPART-1 development project ny as part of a broad- ever, is understood to have re, at Talabira in Odiser EPC (engineering, quested that certain non-EPC ha, a move that has now result- procurement, and construction) works, including the township, ed in a legal tangle with de- package linked to a thermal be removed from the scope of mands for a CBI investigation. power project. The plan covered work to avoid delays in executAccording to internal docu- 642 houses for employees, ac- ing the power project.  P5 Dirty Business @ New Delhi A 20-year-old college student was abducted and sexually assaulted by a three-member gang at a secluded spot behind the Coimbatore International Airport around 11pm on Sunday triggering outrage across , the state. The gang is still at large. The Coimbatore city police have formed seven special teams to trace the men, who allegedly assaulted the private college student when she was talking to her male friend, a 25-year-old man from Ondipudur in Coimbatore, inside a car near Brindavan Nagar. The accused attacked her friend with a machete, dragged the girl to a shrubbery nearby and took turns to assault her before fleeing the spot, police said. The girl from Madurai is a student of a college in Coimbatore. The incident came to light after the girl’s friend, who had collapsed following the attack, regained consciousness and alerted the police upon realising that the girl was missing. Police rushed to the area and launched a search for the girl. She was found lying unconscious at a nearby spot in the wee hours of Monday and was , rushed to a private hospital. Her friend, who sustained serious injuries in the attack, was admitted to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.  P5 zubeen garg murdered, says assam cm Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday claimed that cultural icon Zubeen Garg was murdered in Singapore, even as the probe into the case was underway | P8 night after Recognition, fame and riches, India women wake up to new reality SL Navy arrests 35 TN fishermen g o m e s h S @ Navi Mumbai Nagapattinam: Thirty-five fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on Monday, in two separate incidents, for allegedly violating International Maritime Boundary Line and fishing in Lankan waters. The arrested include 31 fishermen from Nagapattinam and four from Ramanathapuram | P4 As the embers of the beautiful night melted in the dawn, Indiawomen woke up to a new reality – the World Champions. Harmanpreet Kaur and her team must have realized life will no longer be the same again. With last night’s extraordinary viewership numbers (running above 30 crore) and the win turning into the most-discussed topic over the last 24 hours, the fortunes have changed. The team bagged $4.48 million (`40 crore) as prize money . Add to that the `51 crore the Indian cricket board (BCCI) announced. Close to `100 crore for the team, an amount that eclipses any figure the team received since they started playing in World Cups 50 years ago. The Harmanpreet Kaur with the WC trophy at the Gateway of India on Monday | pti World Cup prize-money had seen a nine-fold increase from the runner-up $500,000 they got in 2020 at the MCG. The brand of women’s cricket has been steadily growing and from Sunday night, leading sports apparel companies to food delivery apps started using stars’ faces to promote their brands. Smriti Mandhana has been the most recognised face and the top earner. Harmanpreet is close behind. The likes of Pratika Rawal, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma could be the new faces soon. In terms of cricket, the BCCI is planning to usher in changes. “Whateverchanges we have seen after 1983 in men’s cricket, we hope and expect the samething to happen now,” BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia told this daily  . P11