Anne Carson wins Nobel Prize in Literature Stockholm: Canadian poet, essayist and translator Anne Carson won the Nobel Prize in literature for “bold and inventive” works that fuse the classical and the modern and blur the boundaries of poetry and prose. The 76-year-old brings a modern twist to mysticism and antiquity in her writings about love, desire and despair. kottayam l friday l October 09, 2026 l `10.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION 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 INDIA bloc stages Taxman losing arrest power sit-in at Rajghat among GST Council reforms Threshold for prosecution now C10 crore; for issuing notice, it’s C10,000 U D AYA N K ISHORE & A N U P K UMAR V ERMA @ New Delhi INDIA bloc leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, staged a peaceful protest on Thursday at the Mahatma Gandhi memorial at Rajghat against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged election malpractices. The leaders met briefly for lunch, hosted by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, at Connaught Place and then moved in buses towards the memorial, along with a group of supporters, where they paid floral tributes and sat in a peaceful protest. The INDIA bloc leaders said they were praying for “wisdom to the BJP government” as they alleged that the CEC in connivance with the Centre had “hijacked” the country through “a criminal conspiracy by indulging in vote theft”. The opposition leaders said they would continue their pro- Input tax credit issues P u s h p i ta D e y @ New Delhi Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi along with INDIA bloc leaders en route to Rajghat on Thursday | Parveen Negi test till CEC Gyanesh Kumar resigns. They are likely to meet again on Friday in Parliament for a protest. Samajwadi Party Shiv Sena, UBT, and NCP-SCP also attended the lunch. Besides TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee and Menaka Guruswamy, CPM leader John Brittas and CPI leader P Sandosh were present. Later in the day, the INDIA bloc request an appointment of the President to make a representation on ‘vote theft’. Won’t stop till CEC quits, says Dipke at B’luru rally Bengaluru: cjp founder Abhijeet Dipke on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Election Commission of India of “murdering democracy” and “vote theft”, at a massive protest in Bengaluru. Taking part in a ‘People’s Tribunal’ organised by civil society groups and CJP at Freedom Park against the SIR of electoral rolls, Dipke said the groups would continue their agitation until CEC Gyanesh Kumar resigns. The agitators demanded that SIR exercise be scrapped and pre-SIR electoral rolls be restored. Thousands of protesters had gathered at the venue. YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, present at the site, alleged “zero transparency and zero accountability” in the SIR exercise. The GST Council on Thursday approved a series of process reforms aimed at easing compliance for businesses, including simplifying registration and refunds, scrapping arrest powers of GST officers and raising the monetary threshold for prosecution to `10 crore from `5 crore. The Council also approved a `10,000 threshold for issuing GST show-cause notices and allowed input tax credit (ITC) on several business expenses, including employee insurance.The decisions were taken at the 57th meeting of the GST Council, chaired by Fi- “In the spirit of cooperative federalism, it was decided to have an officers’ committee to examine ITC issues. Why should an honest taxpayer face issues in claiming ITC, if the person/business pays the input tax?” Sitharaman said nance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and attended by finance ministers from several states. The meeting focused on process reforms to reduce compliance burdens and litigation risks for businesses. The Council also addressed a major pain point for businesses — denial of ITC because of non- compliance by vendors in the supply chain. It said genuine buyers should not lose credit because of supplier defaults. A standing committee of officers will examine the issue and submit its report within three months, after which the matter will be placed before the next Council meeting. The Council also widened the scope of ITC to several business expenses, including outdoor catering, health and life insurance, telecommunication towers and pipelines laid outside factory premises. The Council also scrapped the power of GST officers to arrest taxpayers. P12 I.T. firms The US suspended eight firms from PERM programme, which lets firms including Infosys, Wipro, apply for green cards for H-1B visa HCL & TCS suspended From workers, arguing that the practice U.S. Green Card programme takes away jobs from Americans. P9 Iconic dialogue delivery Man of contradictions and fiery, mesmerising monologues Nana Patekar 1 Jan 1951 — 8 Oct 2026 N a m r ata J o s h i N ana Patekar was a star sans glamour. If one phrase could capture him succinctly, it’d be “son of the soil”. It didn’t just reflect in his favourite attire of the kurta and the gamcha but also in his rootedness in his Marathi identity and culture, his simple one BHK (bedroom-hall-kitchen) life in Mumbai, and his love for farming and all things rural, to- wards which he focused most of his philanthropic efforts through the Naam Foundation that he jointly set up in 2015 along with actor Makarand Anaspure. His rough-around-the-edges, mercurial, far-from-glitzy personality found an answering reflection in the volatile, capricious, crusty characters he came to be identified with on screen; most of them, like him, driven by fierceness, fervour, outspokenness, and a righteous rage. He first caught the audience’s eye with the grounded way he captured the angst of an unemployed wastrel in N Chandra’s Ankush (1986). His popularity among the masses peaked in the zealous patriotism of films Tirangaa (1993) and Krantiveer (1994). His distinctive voice and unmistakable dialogue delivery added to the appeal. In that aspect, he was a true inheritor of the legacy of legendary Hindi film star Raaj Kumar, also known for his declamatory style. Nana’s iconic monologues were certainly not about mincing words; in fact, they whipped up the crowd and were repeated with the same gusto by his fans. Like the famous line on communal harmony in Krantiveer, which underscores that one can’t distinguish between blood of a Hindu and a Muslim, and if the creator has treated them equally humans , have no right to drive wedges between the two: “Yeh Musalman ka khoon, yeh Hindu ka khoon. Bata ismein Musalman ka kaunsa hai, Hindu ka kaunsa? Banane wale ne ismein fark nahi kiya, tu kaun hota hai fark karne wala?” Or the sharp barb, in the same film, on how the politicians continue to enjoy power while common people perish: “Ek ek karke sab marenge! Aur yeh neta log kursi par baithkar maza lenge!”  Continued on: P10