chennai l sunday l november 23, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 28 l late city EDITION U.S. bankruptcy court orders Byju’s to pay $1 Bn to debtors A US court has ordered Byju Raveendran to pay back default amount of $1.16 billion to BYJU’s Alpha and US-based lender GLAS Trust LLC Byju Raveendran not complying with orders proves costly The Delaware Bankruptcy Court found that Raveendran failed to comply with its discovery order and continued to be evasive on several occasions. BYJU’s Alpha was incorporated when Raveendran was running the management of edtech firm Think and Learn Private Limited. The judgment follows a dispute between Byju’s and US based lenders ■ $10K ‘not allowed to present valid defence’ ■ The court said it found Raveendran’s behaviour had a strategic pattern of willful failure to comply with its orders Raveendran’s counsel said it is a default judgment, meaning the court issued it without Byju being permitted to present its defence, and instead deprived Byju of a valid defence | P14 a day is penalty that raveendran pays to the u.s. court 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 Chennai’s bullet train dream inches closer to reality C S h i v a k u m a r @ Chennai The proposed 778-km Hyderabad-Chennai high-speed rail corridor, a project that will reshape inter-city travel, has moved a step closer to reality with the South Central Railway submitting the final alignment to be included in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) to the Tamil Nadu government and seeking approvals to keep the survey work on track. letter to PM CM urges Modi to reconsider Kovai, Madurai metro projects E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Chennai Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday wrote a detailed letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing “disappointment and anguish” over the union government’s rejection of metro rail proposals for Coimbatore and Madurai, while countering the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs’ (MoHUA) stated reasons for the rejection and urging reconsideration of the decision. In his letter, Stalin said he has directed the Department of Special Initiatives to submit detailed justifications on MoHUA’s concerns. Urging the PM to instruct MoHUA to review its decision, he said, “If necessary, I am ready to meet you in Delhi with my team to explain the issues in detail.” The rejection has creCM MK Stalin ated “deep resentment among the people of the two cities that their deserving needs have been rejected, as compared to similar projects sanctioned in other states,” he said. Responding to MoHUA’s reasons stated in its letter to TN for rejecting the proposals, Stalin said the “purported reasons” were not appropriate. On the population criterion, he said while the ministry cited the Metro Rail Policy 2017’s requirement of 2 million population, Coimbatore’s Local Planning Area had exceeded this threshold back in 2011 itself, and Madurai is also likely to have crossed it now. Highlighting what he termed as selective application of the criteria, he noted that “if this 2 million criteria had been applied uniformly many metros in tier-II cities , like Agra, Indore and Patna may not have materialised.” P7 WITH THIS ISSUE Divine Tragedy PLUS 12 P AGES I Jayakumar, member secre- pass through Gudur, Jayakutary of the Chennai Unified mar added. Metropolitan Transport AuThe corridor, which has been thority (CUMTA), told TNIE designed for speeds that will that the DPR for the highslash the current 12-hour speed rail corridor will jour ney to around 2 Sunday hours 20 minutes, will be finalised within a month after the state Special have two stations in government grants its Tamil Nadu — Chennai approval. Central and a new station At Tamil Nadu’s request, on the Chennai Ring Road the alignment has been revised near Minjur. Further, the railto include a station at Tirupati, ways has also requested nearly replacing the earlier plan to 50 acres around each station for transit-oriented development to create new commercial and mobility hubs. In a letter to the state transport department earlier this week, the South Central Railway sought early finalisation of the alignment and station locations, in-principle approval for the acquisition of land, and incor poration of the rail corridor into Tamil Nadu’s long-term infrastructure master plan.  P7 Representative photo High-speed rail footprint The Chennai-Hyderabad corridor is one of the two high-speed routes planned as part of a longer-term national push to expand India’s high-speed rail footprint beyond the Mumbai-Ahmedabad line PM Modi @G20: Let’s weaken the drug-terror link Proposes knowledge repository, Africa skills multiplier; global healthcare response team public-health emergencies. “We are stronger when we PRIME Minister Narendra work together in the face of Modi on Saturday called for a health emergencies and natural coordinated global push to dis- disasters,” he said. With Africa mantle the drug–terror nexus, hosting the G20 Summit for the strengthen health-emergency first time, Modi said “Now is the responses, creation of a Global right moment for us to revisit Traditional Knowledge Reposi- our development parameters tory and accelerate skills and focus on growth that development across Afis inclusive and sustainrica, in his address to able.” India also proposed world leaders at the 20th a G20-Africa Skills MultiG20 Summit in Johan- We’re stronger plier Initiative, aimed at when we work creating 1 million certinesburg on Saturday . In a warning on the together in the fied trainers in Africa rise of lethal synthetic face of health within the next decade. emergencies drugs, Modi said: “To and disasters The G20 leaders also overcome the challenge adopted a joint declaraof drug trafficking, espe- Narendra Modi, tion addressing terrorcially the spread of sub- On setting up of ism and climate change a global stances like fentanyl, Inand broader global chalhealthcare dia proposes a G20 lenges on the opening Initiative on Countering response team day of the summit. The the drug–terror nexus. document was finalised Let us weaken the wretched without the US. drug-terror economy .” Earlier, South African PresiThe proposed platform, he dent Cyril Ramaphosa welsaid would integrate finance, comed Modi at the Summit vengovernance and security tools ue with a ‘namaste’. Modi was to choke networks that channel seen interacting informally narcotics revenue into global with global leaders such as terrorism. Further, the PM UK Prime Minister Keir Starmcalled for creation of a G20 Glo- er, Italian Prime Minister Giorbal Healthcare Response Team, gia Meloni, and UN Secretary designed for rapid deployment General Antonio Guterres during natural disasters and among others. P9 j aya n t h j a c o b @ New Delhi Head-lining act Australian batter Travis Head’s 69-ball century helped them beat England within two days in the first Ashes Test in Perth | afp | P15 U n d e r - 1 7 pa l e s t i n i a n t e a m of seeking solace and finding joy in football c h a n d r a p r a b h u @ Chennai On Saturday evening, as the U17 Palestinian men’s football team held on to a 1-1 draw against India U17 at the EKA Arena in Ahmedabad, in the AFC U17 Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers tournament, they walked off the field with their heads held high. The result may not be what they wanted, but for them reaching Ahmedabad and taking the field itself was a struggle. Amidst the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine over the last two years or so, sport had taken a backseat. For this team, the prepa- ration had been far from ideal. They did not win any matches at the the West Asian Football Federation’s (WAFF) U17 Championship last month. Out of 23 total players selected, 18 were from West Bank, but only 11 from the region turned up. Several players had their lives uprooted and displaced because of the conflict, losing their documents in the process. Mohammed Joma Suleiman, the team manager, claimed that bringing in the players with Palestinian roots from other countries to their homeland proved to be a big hindrance. “Because of the express read Heavy rain likely in south TN till Nov 25 SIR fallout Alleged Bangladeshi infiltrators wait to return home, following the special intensive revision (SIR) of poll rolls in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal on Saturday | PTI DMK branch secy shot dead in Salem, probe on Chennai: With a low-pressure area likely to intensify into a depression over the southeast Bay of Bengal by November 24, heavy rain may lash isolated places across Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Ramanathapuram till Tuesday, the RMC said on Saturday | P7 Salem: A DMK branch secretary was shot dead by an unidentified man near Vazhapadi in Salem on Friday. The deceased, Rajendran (43), was travelling on a bike with his wife when the assailant opened fire at him. Two special investigation teams have been formed to nab the shooter | P4 c a m pa i g n f o r e a r ly sc r e e n i n g TN to fight cancer with HPV self-test kits for women S i n d u j a J a ne @ Chennai Observing that many women hesitate to undergo cervical cancer screening tests at hospitals, the Tamil Nadu health department is planning to distribute HPV self-test kits to women aged 35 through health workers. HPV (Human Papillomavirus) is a sexually transmitted infection that causes 95% of cervical cancer according to the WHO. The National Health Mission-Tamil Nadu plans to pilot the programme in Dhar- mapuri district, which has the highest incidence of cervical cancer in the state, targeting around 25,000 women. According to a health department official, the major reason for the low numbers of screening for cervical cancer is the hesitance of women to visit hospitals to provide vaginal samples. Many women are not comfortable with the test, the official added. As part of the new initiative, the HPV self-test kits will be given to women at their homes by health workers who go door-to-door delivering various government health services. The women can take their vaginal swab using the kit and hand over the sample to health workers. T he tests will be processed at the hospitals. To begin with, the department will conduct intensified Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities to raise awareness about cervical cancer screening, and teach women how to collect the vaginal swabs. However, the final standard operating procedure (SOP) is yet to be prepared, and there may be changes in the implementation guidelines, the official said.  P7 The self-test kits are currently in the procurement stage with the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation — Arun Thamburaj, mission director, National Health Mission-TN current situation, we could not bring players to train together, and our preparation was not that good,” Suleiman told this daily. “There is a player from Gaza, we cannot bring anyone from Gaza also because of the war and the genocide is happening there (Israel have repeatedly denied any and all accusations of genocide),” he added. For the team, football is a way of resistance and bringing joy to the kids back home. “They know what it means to carry the Palestinian flag on their crests. Since the start, they know this is a mission and this way, they can share the happiness to Palestinian kids,” said Suleiman. P15 drone drops Global arms trafficking module tied to ISI busted e x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi DELHI Police’s Crime Branch has busted an international arms trafficking module allegedly linked to ISI-backed arms network with the arrest of four people. They recovered high end Turkiye (PX-5.7) and China (PX-3) made weapons smuggled from Pakistan through drones. Ten foreign made semi-automatic pistols along with 92 live cartridges were also seized. The seized weapon PX-5.7 is only used by Special Forces. Police said they got a tip-off on November 19 on a cross-border arms trafficking module involved in supplying sophisticated illegal weapons in Delhi/ NCR. It was found that they would come to Rohini to deliver the arms consignment. A trap was laid in Rohini Sector-28 and four people were apprehended with foreign-made semi-automatic pistols and live cartridges, DCP (Crime) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said. Those arrested are Mandeep Singh (38) Dalvinder Kumar (34), both residents of Punjab; Rohan Tomar (30) and Ajay (37). The module was involved in smuggling weapons using drones. Yadav said the consignment is dropped at locations near the border, where receivers on the Indian side retrieve them. The network relies on local collaborators who monitor police movement, facilitate pickups, and transport it to safe houses. Payments are routed through hawala channels. Nuclear sector to open for private players A bill seeking to open the civil nuclear sector for private players is among the 10 proposed legislations listed for introduction in the winter session of Parliament, beginning December 1 | P9 ICAR gags scientists after row over performance of two new GE rice varieties duction, climate adaptability, and water conservation”. AgriThe Indian Council for Agri- culture minister Shivraj Singh cultural Research (ICAR) is Chouhan hailed the effort. evolving organisational guideBut a platform of scientists, lines for scientists after a re- farmer leaders, medical excent controversy over data re- perts, consumer rights activlated to genome-edited ists, and members of (GE) rice varieties. the Coalition for a GMThese guidelines reFree India rubbished strict scientists from the claim, citing data sharing their research mined from ICAR’s own findings with the media All India Coordinated and journals, this newsResearch Project on paper has learnt. They Rice for 2023 and 2024. Developing also direct scientists to The Coalition said ICtwo new GE avoid publishing any reAR’s own limited data varieties is an search papers in interdidn’t support its pubexceptional national journals until achievement lished report. ICAR they are fully confident pushed back with a of ICAR about their findings. point-by-point rebuttal. It all began after the Shivraj Chauhan “Seeking research government on May 4 credits, scientists are alannounced the release of two ways in a rush to get their works GE rice lines developed by published, which sometimes are ICAR — Pusa DST-1 and DRR not backed by robust data,” said Dhan 100 (Kamala), which it a scientist. “The new fiat will said “have the potential to lead to fewer publication of rebring about revolutionary search papers. But it will enchanges in terms of higher pro- hance credibility .” J i t en d r a C h o u b e y @ New Delhi