coimbatore l thursday l november 20, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION Ready to launch first uncrewed Gaganyaan mission anytime: Isro Isro chairman V Narayanan said on Wednesday the space agency is fully prepared to launch the first of the three uncrewed missions any time Over 80,000 tests completed: V narayanan Narayanan said that with 80,000 tests completed, about 85% of the work on the Gaganyaan mission is now done. The first uncrewed Gaganyaan mission is scheduled for December 2025 and will carry the humanoid robot Vyommitra. It will be the first of three uncrewed tests designed to validate the mission’s systems before the crewed launch ■ 2027 Launch in December, PM to finalise date ■ The launch date for the first uncrewed mission will be finalised by the Prime Minister, Narayanan said at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2025 The Isro chairman said India’s share in the global space economy is expected to rise to 11% by 2047, from the current 2%. He added Isro will launch around 50 satellites per year over the next five years when India aims to launch the first crewed ganganyaan mission 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 Modi sees ‘Bihar winds’ at TN meeting Another form of E x press N ews S er v ice @ Coimbatore Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the country is on the path to becoming a global hub for natural farming. Addressing a meeting after inaugurating the threeday South India Natural Farming Summit 2025 at Codissia Hall in Coimbatore, the PM said, “The country’s biodiversity is evolving, and the youth are now viewing agriculture as a modern, scalable opportunity . This shift will greatly strengthen the rural economy .” Alluding to the NDA’s stunning victory in Bihar poll and the bright prospects for the alliance in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections in 2026, the PM referred to the waving of towels by farmers at the event as arrival of “Bihar winds” in Tamil Nadu. “I think the spirit of Bihar had arrived even before I did,” he quipped. The PM express read Armstrong murder HC order on CBI probe stayed by SC New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed a Madras HC order transferring the probe into the murder of former TN BSP president K Armstrong to the CBI. Justices J K Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi passed the order after TN’s counsel said police had filed a detailed chargesheet in the case and the HC quashed it in a “casual manner” | P7 car crash 3 medical students killed & 2 injured Thoothukudi: Three medical students were killed and two injured when their car collided with a tree in Thoothukudi early on Wednesday. Sources said that the five students, pursuing fourth-year MBBS, were driving home through rain at 3 am when the driver of the car lost control and dashed against the tree | P5 PM Modi being felicitated at the farmers’ summit in Coimbatore | S Senbagapandiyan rejecting metro BJP’s act of revenge: CM Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday hit out at the BJP government at the centre for rejecting metro rail projects for Madurai and Coimbatore, calling the move an act of “revenge” against the people of Tamil Nadu | P4 also said that he should have learnt Tamil in his childhood. “A year ago, the central government had launched the national mission on natural farm- ing. T he impact of this initiative is especially visible across south India, with approximately 35,000 hectares of land in Tamil Nadu alone now under organic and natural farming. Natural farming is an indigenous Indian concept not imported from elsewhere but born out of our tradition and aligned to our environment,” Modi said. The prime minister also said that integrating the cultivation of millets with natural farming plays a vital role in protecting Mother Earth. He noted that in Tamil Nadu, Lord Murugan is offered ‘thenum and thinai maavum’, a preparation made from honey and Shree Anna (foxtail millet flour). Modi stressed that the government is committed to taking the superfood (millets) to global markets and emphasised that natural and chemical-free farming will play a major role in expanding their international reach. The prime minister also urged the state government to promote multicropping on the lines of Kerala and Karnataka.  P7 US deports 200 Indians, including Anmol Bishnoi days NIA custody . “We are trying to find how he A special US deportation flight fled India,” Special Public Proscarrying 200 Indians, including ecutor Rahul Tyagi said, addAnmol Bishnoi, the younger ing that Anmol will be probrother and close aide of gang- duced before the court again on ster Lawrence Bishnoi, two November 29 after completion other fugitives wanted in Pun- of his NIA custody . jab, and 197 undocumented miHailing from Punjab’s Fazilgrants landed in New ka, Anmol was his Delhi on Wednesday . borther Lawrence BishAnmol is wanted in noi’s principal overmultiple criminal cases seas handler and was in India, including the directing extortion murders of Punjabi rackets, issuing threats, singer Sidhu Moosewaand coordinating asla in May 2022 and Nasignments through entionalist Congress ParAnmol Bishnoi crypted channels. ty leader Baba Siddique Anmol reportedly in October 2024, and firing at slipped out of the country in actor Shah Rukh Khan’s resi- April 2022 using a forged passdence in April 2024. port, accompanied by another As soon as the special US w a n t e d g a n g s t e r S a ch i n flight landed at the Indira Gan- Thapan. dhi International Airport in Sources said Anmol manDelhi, Bishnoi was detained by aged to get a fake passport in the National Investigation the name of Bhanu Pratap, a Agency (NIA). He was later pro- resident of Faridabad, and his duced at Delhi’s Patiala House father’s name was mentioned court, which sent him to 11 as Rakesh. H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh Stalker stabs Class 12 girl to death with knife in Rameswaram E x press N ews S er v ice @ Ramanathapuram A Class 12 student on her way to school was stabbed to death in broad daylight by a 21-year-old stalker on a public road in Rameswaram on Wednesday Police . identified the victim as M Shalini (17) of Cherakottai, a student of Rameswaram Government Girls Higher Secondary School. According to police sources, when Shalini was on her way to school around 9 am on Wednesday, K Muniraj (21), a fisherman from the same neighbourhood and a distant relative, followed and confronted her. After an altercation, he allegedly pulled out a K Muniraj knife and stabbed her multiple times in the neck and fled the spot. Hearing her screams, nearby residents rushed her to the Rameswaram Government Hospital. However, doctors declared her dead on arrival. Shalini’s body was later taken to the Ramanathapuram Government Medical College Hospital for a postmortem. Speaking to TNIE, Superintendent of Police G Chandeesh, said, “The victim and the accused lived on the same street and are distant relatives.”  P7 MP officer dieS During maoist encounter Inspector Ashish Sharma of the MP police’s Hawk Force anti-Naxal unit died on Wednesday after being injured in a gunfight on Chhattisgarh-Madhya Pradesh border | P10 nitish to take oath as Bihar cm today The swearing-in ceremony will be held at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan. Over 3 lakh people expected to attend Page 8 talaq now under top court’s glare S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi Eight years after it deemed instant triple talaq (talaq-e-biddah) unconstitutional, the Supreme Court on Wednesday indicated it could go after talaq staggered over three months (talaq-e-hasan) — a form of divorce — by sending the matter to a five-member bench. Under talaq-e-hasan, a Muslim man can divorce his wife by uttering the word talaq once each for three months. A three-judge bench led by Justice Surya Kant was hearing a petition by journalist Benazeer Heena, who said her husband Ghulam Akhtar had sent unsigned talaq-e-hasan notices through his lawyer by Speed Post. “In the 11-page talaq notice, the sign of the husband is missing. Talaq was pronounced by the husband’s advocate,” her counsel said. In the absence of Akhtar’s signature, Heena has been unable to prove she is divorced, though he remarried. But if she to wed again, Akhtar could accuse her of polyandry Heena . also had problems with her child’s school admission. Akhtar’s advocate said the practice of conveying talaq through legal notice was quite common in Islam. “How is this allowed in modern society?” the bench that included justices Ujjal Bhuyan, Regulation as per constitutional ethos The bench said it is not the question of striking down a prevalent religious practice but an issue which needs to be regulated as per the constitutional ethos. Heena’s PIL was directed to be listed on Nov 26, Constitution Day and N K Singh wondered. “We are in 2025. How are you promoting this? Is this how the dignity of a woman is upheld? Should a civilised society allow this kind of practice?” justice Surya Kant asked. The bench went on to observe, “Society at large is involved. Some remedial measures have to be taken. If there are gross discriminatory practices, this court will have to interfere.” The court indicated that if required it could refer the matter to a five-member bench for consideration. “Give us broadly the legal questions that may arise. Then we will see how to resolve them,” the bench said. GOVT CENSURED SC quashes Tribunal law provisions S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi TH E S u p r e m e C o u r t o n Wednesday struck down several key provisions of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 related to the appointment, tenure, and service conditions of tribunal members, noting that these were in violation of the court’s earlier judgments, and directed the Centre to set up a National Tribunals Commission within four months. In a strongly worded verdict, a bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran said the Centre brought back the provisions earlier read down by the apex court with minor tweaks. “The impugned provisions violated the principles of separation of powers and judicial independence, and they should not have been brought back,” the bench said. It said until a new legislation is put in place to give effect to the court’s order, the directions and principles laid down in its earlier judgments will govern all matters related to appointment, tenure and qualifications concerning tribunal members. The CJI, who authored the 137-page judgement, specifically invalidated the provisions including Section 3, which mandated a minimum age of 50 years for appointment as a chairperson or member. The court held that this section excluded young and competent advocates and experts. ED gets 13-day custody of Al Falah group chairman S umit K umar , F aya z W ani & N amita B ajpai @ New Delhi/ Srinagar/ Lucknow The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is investigating the Al Falah group at the centre of the Delhi blast case for alleged money laundering, has uncovered tainted funds amounting to `415 crore, sources said on Wednesday The agency has se. cured 13-day custody of Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui, the chairman and founder of the group. An official said the Al Falah group generated “proceeds of crime” by deceiving students through false claims about the accreditation and recognition of its institutions. Meanwhile, sources said around 10 people associated with the AlFalah University, including three from Kashmir, are missing. Their mobile phones too are switched off. Their disappearances came to light after a joint operation by the J&K and Haryana police. In J&K, the police on Wednes- day inspected lockers belonging to doctors in the Valley . In Uttar Pradesh, the state Anti-Terrorist Squad launched a comprehensive informationgathering exercise across eight districts, seeking detailed records of all students, teachers and management personnel associated with all operational madrasas.