tirupati l saturday l march 01, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION skype to be history on may 5 as microsoft plans to shut it down Launch, acquisition and downfall Skype was first launched in 2003 and was acquired by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion. Microsoft tried to integrate Skype into Windows 10 in 2015, but the integration lasted only nine months. Microsoft launched Teams in 2017, a collaboration platform built on the backbone of Skype. Despite efforts to revive Skype, the platform’s popularity declined Microsoft said Skype will be retired on May 5, 2025, and existing users will be able to log in to the Teams app without creating another account ■ 36 million when competitors stole the limelight ■ A hidden message in the latest Skype preview version reveals the impending shutdown and directs users to switch to Teams In the past 10 years, platforms like FaceTime, Messenger and WhatsApp have made it simpler to connect with friends through messaging, voice calls and video chats, leading to Skype’s downfall daily users of Skype Despite its continuing decline 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 sURETY FOR WELFARE, GUARANTEE TO FUTURE  Payyavula presents AP Budget for 2025-26 with an outlay of `3.22 lakh cr  Viability Gap Funding for PPP projects STATE 2025-26 The State Budget helps ensure both welfare and development. Allocations have been made to Thalliki Vandanam and Annadata Sukhibhava as part of fulfilment of ‘Super Six’ Pawan Kalyan, Deputy CM Naidu, CM How Rupee comes Budget at a glance Total budget outlay `40,635 cr Revenue expenditure - Capital expenditure `33,185 cr Revenue deficit (1.82% of GSDP) `79,926 cr Fiscal deficit (4.38% of GSDP) `2,17,976.53 cr `2,51,162 cr `1,04,382.80 cr Total budget outlay Revenue receipts `3,22,359.33 cr Capital receipts The State Budget for 2025-26 has laid the foundation to rebuild AP as the NDA government remains committed to welfare, growth and good governance. It is an effort to promote holistic growth as the budget prioritises infra projects, besides welfare Finance minister Payyavula Kesav handovers budget papers to CM Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Friday | Express Grant in aid 10 Non-tax revenue 6 Tax revenue 34 Share of Central taxes 18 Open market loans and other liabilities 32 How Rupee goes Interest & principal repayment 18 Transport, Roads & Buildings 25 rs 3 he Ot Agriculture 4 MA&UD - 4 Water resources 5 Welfare 18 Health & Panchayat Raj and Rural Development 6 INSIDE * in Paise Health sector gets `19,264 crore, allocation increases by 4% | P2 Education 11 The TDP-led NDA government, living up to the spirit of MS Swaminathan’s words, is working toward achieving the goal of Swarna Andhra @ 2047, supporting agriculture as the primary sector Atchannaidu, Min The is a ‘deceptive numbers game’ filled with selfpraise, and criticism of the previous regime, lacking a solid development plan, and leaving the Super Six promises unfulfilled. Botcha, YSRCP leader S V i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav on Friday presented the Andhra Pradesh Budget for 2025-26 in the Legislative Assembly with an outlay of `3,22,359 crore. The revenue expenditure has been estimated at `2,51,162 crore, while the capital expenditure has been shown at `40,635 crore. The revenue deficit is `33,185 crore (1.82% of GSDP), while the fiscal deficit is `79,926 crore (4.38% of GSDP). The revised estimates of revenue expenditure for the financial year 2024-25 are `2,24,342 crore, while the capital expenditure is `24,072 crore. The revenue deficit for 2024-25 is `48,311 crore (3.01%), whereas the fiscal deficit is `73,362 crore (4.57% of GSDP). As asserted by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the budget proposals seem to have struck a fine balance between welfare and development. Besides enhancing the capital expenditure to `40,635 crore from `24,072 crore compared to the revised estimates of 2024-25, the TDP-led NDA government has laid more emphasis on welfare. An allocation of `20,281 crore has been Agriculture and allied sectors to drive State’s economic growth | P4 made for SC welfare, `8,159 crore for STs, `47,456 crore for BCs, and `5,434 crore for minorities. The NDA government, which is already implementing Deepam 2.0 scheme (providing 3 LPG cylinders to women beneficiaries a year free of cost), one of the promises made under Super Six, is set to launch two more major schemes, including Thalliki Vandanam (`15,000 for mothers of schoolgoing children) and Annadata Sukhibhava (`20,000 financial aid to farmers, including `6,000 given by the Centre under PM Kisan in three installments per year). While `9,407 crore has been proposed for Thalliki Vandanam, `6,300 crore has been earmarked for Annadata Sukhibhava. In his speech, the Finance Minister has announced the innovative Viability Gap Funding (VGF) scheme for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects for up to 20% of the project cost of any department, beyond the existing budgetary allocation. It has been proposed to set up a corpus of `2,000 crore for the VGF scheme. Besides allocating `10 crore for the development of Telugu language, it has also been proposed to provide free powP4 er to government schools.  `6,000 crore for Amaravati infra expansion projects | P5 Major allocations `9,407 cr `6,300 cr Thalliki Vandanam Annadata Sukhibhava Department In ` crore Agriculture 48,341 School education 31,805 Health, medical and family welfare 19,264 Panchayati Raj & Rural Development 18,847 Municipal Administration and Urban Development 13,862 Water Resources 18,019 Energy 13,600 Transport, Roads and Buildings 8,785 Home 8,570 Women, children, differently abled and senior citizens welfare 4,332 Shashi Tharoor’s row: Economy bounces back Cong issues gag order in quarter 3 on Kerala leaders 6.2% growth D i pa k M o n d a l @ New Delhi The Indian economy showed resilience and made smart recovery in the third (OctoberDecember) quarter after posting an underwhelming growth rate in the second quarter. According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the real GDP grew at 6.2% in Q3 compared to 5.6% in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, the government’s second advanced estimate shows the economy might be growing at a slightly higher pace—at 6.5%—in FY25 against the previous estimate of 6.4%. In FY24, GDP grew at 9.2%, revised upwards from 8.6% as per earlier projections. The recovery in the third quarter was driven by better private and government consumption growth as well as by a heavy lifting in exports. Private consumption in real terms grew at 6.9% in the third quarter compared to 5.9% in the second. For the full year, private consumption is expected to grow at 7.6% compared to 5.6% a year ago. Government consumption grew at 8.3% during October-December compared to 3.8% in previous quarter. Investments in asset creation, indicated by the gross fixed capital formation, however, remained a drag for the economy growing at 5.7% in Q3 compared to 5.8% in the previous quarter. “The gross fixed capital formation at the economy level is around 30%, so there is room for the private sector to invest. Of course, there is uncertainty globally, but uncertainty isn’t there with respect to Indian demand; urban demand is recovering,” said Chief Economic Advisor V Ananth Nageswaran. P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Amid the row over Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s TNIE column hailing the achievements of the CPM-led government in Kerala, the Congress leadership on Friday said those who don’t toe the party line would face action. Speaking at the meeting of the Congress brass with Kerala leaders, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi cautioned the leaders “not to go against party line and disrespect the people of Kerala”. With Tharoor by her side, Congress’ Kerala in-charge Deepa Dasmunshi said all leaders have to work in coordination, discipline, and unity to win the upcoming local body and Assembly elections in the state. “We have got clear indication from the high command that people are looking for a change, so we should not do anything that disrespects the people. If any- one says anything personally ... we will take strong action,” she said. According to sources, Rahul said he is emotionally connected to the state and the people. “People are yearning for a change and we should be careful about our strategies. We should not do anything wrong against the party line,” sources quoted him as saying. AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said that no leaders have the right to make out-of-line statements in the media. At least three leaders, including M M Hassan, targeted Tharoor, saying his public comments damaged the party . When asked if the censure is directed at Tharoor, Dasmunshi said: “Why are you only pinpointing Tharoor? So many others made personal views. It has been told generally to everyone.” She also ruled out a leadership change in the state unit. It means K Sudhakaran will continue as the president. Rescuers carry workers to safety on Friday. Search for the remaining 25 workers will continue on Saturday | PTI Avalanche buries BRO camp, 32 rescued n a r e n d ra s e t h i & m aya n k s i n g h @ Dehradun/New Delhi THIRTY-TWO of the 57 Border Roads Organization (BRO) workers trapped under an avalanche in the high-altitude village of Mana in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district have been rescued, with concern over the safety of the other 25 mounting as inclement weather forced a pause in rescue operations. The avalanche, which buried a BRO camp between Mana and Badrinath, rolled down early on Friday Multiple teams com. prising the Army disaster response forces battled through tough terrain and heavy snow through the day to reach the men. They initially pulled out 10 workers and then the others, sources said. Four of those rescued are in a critical condition, the Army PRO said. All 32 have been taken to the ITBP camp in Mana for treatment, the sources said. Mana, three kilometres from Badrinath, is the last village on the India-Tibet border at an altitude of 3,200 metres. The avalanche hit around 7.15 am, burying the workers inside eight containers and one shed, the Army said. Swift response teams, comprising more than 100 people from the Ibex Brigade, especially trained in high altitude rescue operations, were immediately mobilised. The teams included doctors and ambulances. According to Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman, the situation is critical with the containers buried under six to seven feet of snow. The bad weather continues. Teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and SDRF left for the spot, about 300 km from Dehradun, amid continuing snowfall and rain. Home Minister Amit Shah said rescuing the trapped people is the government’s top priority. In a post on X, he said he spoke to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and the chiefs of the ITBP and the NDRF. win-win deal Kangana Ranaut, Javed Akhtar bury defamation hatchet after five years S h r e ya s Pa n d e @ Mumbai Kangana Ranaut and Javed Akhtar have officially called a truce. The actor-turned-BJP MP and the veteran lyricistscreenwriter, have put an end to their compounding legal feud through mediation. After completing the formalities of the settlement, Kangana shared a photo on her social media where she was beaming in a grin standing alongside a smiling Akhtar. The actor, who earlier had some fiery exchanges with Akhtar, called him “kind” and “gracious” to have settled the matter. Their legal tussle began in 2020 when Kangana gave a TV interview after actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. In her shaky soft voice she made a big , claim about a meeting she had with Akhtar at his house. She said Akhtar pressured her to apologise to Hrithik Roshan over their much-publicised feud in 2016. Kangana even alleged that Akhtar warned her of dire consequences if she doesn’t act accordingly . Akhtar strongly rejected the claims. “Whatever Kangana said in the interview is a lie and nothing but a lie. I had told her about the agenda of the meeting on call. Didn’t call her to discuss t h e weather, political situation or America’s election in 2016,” Akhtar told the court. The man, known for writing some pow- er-packed Amitabh Bachchan dialogues wasn’t going to stay silent, was he? Neither was Kangana going to back down. She filed a counter-defamation case against Akhtar in 2021. Now, Kangana has clarified that what she said in the TV interview was due to a misunderstanding. Exiting the court after the hearing on Friday, Akhtar told the media, “The matters are finally settled. She has apologised for all the inconvenience caused to me. I will take back my case and she will take back her case.” Kangana added in her social media post that the veteran lyricist has agreed to write a song for her upcoming directorial. With the legalities settled, will we get to see a moment of “poetic justice” with their collaboration? Only time will tell.