visakhapatnam l saturday l november 22, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Govt reopens tourist visa access for Chinese nationals VISA AI Image People-centric steps key to strong ties In further signs of thaw, Chinese nationals will now be able to apply for tourist visas through Indian missions and consulates around the world visa applications spike at embassies Issuance of visas to Chinese nationals was suspended following the start of a military stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh that began in May 2020. This follows efforts by India and China to rebuild ties after the resolution of the eastern Ladakh military stand-off. The two nations have agreed on several people-centric steps of late ■ ■ Visa applications were received at the Indian embassy in Beijing and the consulates in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong this week Some other diplomatic efforts between neighbours include resumption of Kailash Manasarovar Yatra, resumption of direct flights, commemoration of 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations 2020 in may of that year, the stand-off at ladakh marked a new low 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 Unions growl, India Inc weighs 4 Labour Codes’ notification Minimum wage and social security for all, including gig workers; retrenchment rules eased for employers E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi THE Centre on Friday notified the four Labour Codes pending since 2020, ushering in several workerfriendly measures such as universal social security and timely minimum wage, while also trying to make life easy for companies in terms of compliance and paper work. In all, 29 older labour laws were streamlined into four Labour Codes—the Code on Wages, 2019; the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; the Code on Social Security 2020; and the , Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020. According to the government, these codes will bring improvements in wages, workplace safety social se, curity equality and employee rights , , across several sectors. In a first, gig workers have been formally brought under the social security framework. Towards this, aggregators such as Zomato, Swiggy, and Uber will have to contribute 1-2% of their annual turnover. Among the other key reforms are mandatory appointment letters to workers to ensure formalisation and job security, expanded rights and safety for women, including nightshift work and mandatory grievance committees, and free annual health check-ups for workers above 40. Migrant workers in the textile sector, will get equal wages and welfare benefits. They can raise claims for up to three years to settle pending dues, and overtime must be paid at double the wage rate. As for companies, their compliance burden has been eased with the number of returns to file, number of records to keep, and the number of licences to obtain being cut down to size. Also, the retrenchment rules have been relaxed, triggering angry reactions from trade unions. A joint platform of 10 central trade unions called for a nationwide protest on November 26 demanding the withdrawal of the codes, terming them “anti-worker” and “pro-employer”. Some trade unions welcomed the reforms. While the government claims the move will go a long way in ease of doing business, it will also increase the operating costs for companies Big-bang labour reforms 1 29 labour laws streamlined into CODE OF WAGES 4 comprehensive Labour Codes Establishes a statutory right to minimum wages for all, including those in unorganised sector Review of minimum wages every 5 years 2 Equal remuneration to male and female workers CODE ON SOCIAL SECURITY Benefit of pension scheme to all workers of organised, unorganised and self-employed sectors Employees engaged on fixed term (contract) to get same social security benefit as permanent employees Social security fund for the unorganised sector 3 OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY, HEALTH AND WORKING CONDITIONS CODE Creating safe working conditions in businessfriendly environment Mandatory, free annual health check-up of workers Database of migrant workers 4 INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS CODE Allows direct, time-bound contracts with full parity in wages, benefits; gratuity eligibility after one year Re-skilling fund to train retrenched employees; amount equal to 15 days’ wages for every worker retrenched due to higher minimum wages and greater accountability on safety and working conditions. The next step is framing the rules. As labour is a concurrent subject, the Centre and states have to frame P10 laws and rules.  express read President offers prayers at Tirumala, distributes sweets to pilgrims Tirumala: President of India Droupadi Murmu offered prayers at the Sri Venkateswara temple in Tirumala on Friday. After Darshan, the President was presented with Sesha Vastram. Later, she distributed sweets and chocolates to pilgrims at Rambhageecha Guest House. Pilgrims described themselves as “lucky enough” to receive sweets and chocolates from the President, and expressed happiness that she interacted with them despite not knowing any of them personally | P3 Wing Commander Namansh Syal sustains fatal injuries S V i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada Combo videograbs of IAF’s Tejas Mark 1 Light Combat Aircraft crashing in a ball of fire during an aerial display at the Dubai Air Show on Friday | PTI Tejas crash at Dubai show MAYA N K SI N G H @ New Delhi A showpiece Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mark 1 of the Indian Air Force crashed during an aerial display on the last day of the Dubai Air Show-2025 on Friday. The pilot, identified as Wing Commander Namansh Syal, sustained fatal injuries in the accident. The IAF mourned his untimely loss. A court of inquiry is being constituted to ascertain the cause of the accident. The plane crashed around 2.10 pm local time (3.40 pm IST) during the demonstration flight. The aerial display of Tejas was scheduled to last eight minutes. Videos the accident showed the Tejas suddenly dropping height after a low-altitude manoeuvre. It failed to recover from the dive, hit the ground and was CM: Govt will control PPP med colleges E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has made it clear that though the new medical colleges are coming up under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, they will run under the jurisdiction and supervision of the State government. Holding a review meeting on medical and health services, the universal health insurance scheme, and the Sanjeevani Health Project in Kuppam, at the State Secretariat on Friday, he took stock of the progress of new medical colleges coming up in N Chandrababu Naidu, CM A d o n i , M a rk a puram, Madanapalli and Pulivendula. When officials informed him that the tender process will be completed by next month, he directed them to speed up the process. Each medical college has been allotted 50 acres of land. The medical college and hospital will come up in 25 acres, and the remaining 25 acres will be used for the development of paramedical, nursing, dental care, wellness, Ayurveda P4 and yoga centres.  legend of the don Ashes, Bradman and power of imagination R R a j e s h K u m a r @ Sydney T he Ashes is upon us. Cricket’s most storied rivalry inevitably brings to mind the greatest batter the game has known. Donald Bradman—whom even Nelson Mandela regarded as “one of the divinities”—made an unparalleled 5,028 runs in these Tests. This included, of course, that famous second-ball duck in his final innings. That small failure meant that the rarest of Nature’s creatures, a genius with an eye for business—as R.C. Robertson-Glasgow summed him up—finished with 6,996 runs at an average of 99.94. Another four runs and the Don’s average would have read an even 100. The travesty! What many Indian readers may find heart-stirring is how the destiny of the cricket’s champion bat was forged far from the grand stadiums we know today—in Bowral, a quiet, almost meditative town around 116 km from Sydney . Walking through Bowral recently one could sense how , the rhythms of the place shaped the boy who would make batting immortal. At 52 Shepherd Street, lovingly restored by a Vijayanand may continue as CS till Feb-end former owner to recreate the Don’s early life, Bradman honed his skills in the most home-grown of ways. He practised by throwing a golf ball at the curved water tank in the backyard and hitting it on the rebound with a cricket stump he had fashioned into a bat. “The golf ball came back at him at lightning speed and it helped him develop amazing reflexes,” Australian cricketer Arthur Mailey observed of the Don’s childhood. Bowral was also where his mother, Emily Bradman, sent down left-arm deliveries to her young son—an image that feels instantly familiar to countless Indian households where cricket dreams begin in bylanes and Continued on: P11 backyards. engulfed in a ball of fire within the airfield of the Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central. A post from the @PIBFactCheck handle on Thursday had dismissed claims that a Tejas at the DubaiAirshow 2025 had suffered an oil leak. The post said “intentional draining of condensed water from the aircraft’s Environmental Control System (ECS) and OnBoard Oxygen Generating System (OBOGS)” was erroneously interpreted as an oil leak. At the time of going to print, it was not clear whether the plane in question was the same one that crashed on Friday . There were two Tejas planes in Dubai, one static and the other for aerial display . Manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, the Tejas is a platform for air combat and of- fensive air support. Reconnaissance and anti-ship operations are its secondary roles. Friday’s accident is the second involving Tejas in two years. The first one crashed in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan on March 12, 2024 while returning from a triservices exercise in the Pokhran desert. However, that pilot managed to eject safely . Tejas are set to be the mainstay of the IAF, which has already inducted 36 of the 40 LCA Tejas Mk1 that were initially ordered. In 2021, the IAF ordered 83 more LCA Tejas Mk 1A at a cost of `46,000 crore. In November 2023, the defence ministry gave initial approval to procure an additional batch of 97 Tejas jets for the IAF. The Congress mourned the tragedy with Rahul Gandhi posting on X: “Deeply saddened by the loss of our brave IAF pilot in the Tejas crash in Dubai.” Deeply anguished at the loss of a brave and courageous IAF pilot during an aerial display in Dubai Air Show. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family. The nation stands firmly with the family in this tragic hour Rajnath Singh, Union defence minister Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is learnt to have decided to continue the services of senior IAS officer K Vijayanand as the Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh for another three months, ensuring administrative continuity at the highest level. According to official sources, Vijayanand’s current tenure is set to conclude at the end of November 2025. With the Chief Minister favouring his continuation, the State gover nment is expected to secure the required extension from the Centre, allowing him to serve in the top bureaucratic position till the end of February 2026. A 1992-batch IAS officer, Vijayanand took charge as Chief Secretary in December 2024. Known for his calm and methodical approach, he has been balancing dual responsibilities as the Special Chief Secretary of the Energy Department, where he has overseen several key policy decisions. Sources indicated that the Chief Minister has also firmed P4 up the succession plan.