The New Indian Express Wishes its readers a HAPPY vijayawada l friday l march 14, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION Spadex Mission Achieves Maiden Undocking, next docking in april Indian Space Research Organisation recorded its first successful undocking as part of the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission paves way for crucial future missions announcement After 3-Hour Assessment The two light weight satellites, SDX-01 (the chaser) and SDX-02 (target) successfully separated almost a month-and-a-half after it was scheduled to be achieved. With this success, ISRO is now bracing for its future missions — Chandrayaan-4, Bhartiya Antriksh Mission, manned space mission Gaganyaan, and Man on Moon mission ■ ■ Although the undocking happened around 9.20 am, ISRO announced on ‘X’ only at 12.21 pm, after assessing all parameters ISRO monitored operations from Bengaluru, Lucknow, and Mauritius. Satellites’ independent ops, sensors, and components are being analysed, said ISRO Chairman V Narayanan 460 km above Earth, the two mini satellites were successfully separated 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 Stalin emerges as the anchor of Opposition unity Telangana & Karnataka govts, BRS, YSRCP, BJD to attend Chennai meet on delimitation P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Revanth to consult party brass Telangana CM Revanth Reddy said he would attend the Chennai meet after taking permission from the high command. A DMK delegation led by minister K N Nehru met him in Delhi on Thursday and extended an invitation Siddu to send DKS for event With several political parties extending support to the DMK government in Tamil Nadu in its fight over the proposed delimitation of parliamentary constituencies, Chief Minister M K Stalin appears to be emerging as the voice that binds the non-BJP parties on the issue. Congress-ruled Telangana and Karnataka governments, opposition BRS in Telangana, former Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik’s BJD, and former Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP are some of the parties that have confirmed their participation in a meeting convened by Stalin on March 22. Spearheaded by Stalin, the coming together of political parties is widely seen as a show of Opposition unity against ‘delimitation’. On Thursday Telangana CM Revanth Reddy said , he would attend the Chennai meeting after taking permission from the Congress high command. “I welcome M K Stalin’s stand. I have to get permission from the Congress high command to attend the meeting. In principle, I have agreed to attend,” Reddy told reporters. Earlier this month, Stalin had written to the chief ministers of seven states, including Reddy to , form a joint action committee against the delimitation exercise. The Chennai meeting is seen as a first step towards ‘unified action’ against any move by the Centre to implement delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies in a manner that will cut down the representation of states that have successfully implemented population control. Though the BRS in Telangana keeps a distance from both the Congress and the BJP, BRS leader K T Rama Rao on Thursday confirmed it will attend the meeting. A DMK delegation also extended an invitation to Andhra Pradesh’s ruling TDP and a key ally of the NDA government. According to sources, the party said that it will discuss the matter with CM Chandrababu Naidu and take a call. Delegations of DMK leaders met K’taka CM Siddaramaiah, former AP CM Jagan Mohan Reddy, and BJD’s Naveen Patnaik, who assured their support. Siddu deputed Deputy CM D K Shivakumar for the Chennai meeting Rupee symbol axed Intensifying the language showdown, the TN govt on Thursday replaced the Devanagari rupee symbol with a Tamil letter in its logo for Friday’s TN budget AI skills for 2 lakh students as govt inks MoU with Microsoft E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada The State government has entered into a key agreement with globally renowned Microsoft for skill development among youth in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced technologies. Representatives of Microsoft and officials of the AP State Skill Development Corporation signed an MoU in the presence of HRD, IT and Electronics Minister Nara Lokesh at the Secretariat on Thursday . The major objective of this agreement is to develop basic skills in AI and advanced technologies for students pursuing vocational education, and for secondary school children and the youth to produce skilled personnel required for IT-based and other industries in the State. Lokesh said that as per this agreement, Microsoft will impart skill development training to over two lakh youths in just one year. The Microsoft training will help the youth grab the opportunities emerging globally in AI and advanced technology and , P4 get jobs, he said.  playing with Colour Children celebrate Holi a day ahead of the festival of colours, in Karnataka’s Chikkamagaluru on Thursday | PTI CM indicates SECI deal will be honoured despite burden S G u r u S r i k a n t h @ Vijayawada Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday indicated that the agreement with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to procure 7,000 MW solar power for 25 years at `2.49 per unit would be honoured. During a short discussion on the energy sector in the Assembly, Naidu said the SECI agreement became a liability “How. ever, as the deal was signed, any cancellation led to penalties and loss of credibility, yet I won’t use these as excuses to evade responsibility. I will ensure the State becomes surplus in power sector by utilising every opportunity available,” he said. He elaborated on the cancellation of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) during the YSRCP regime, which created distrust among the potential investors at the international level. During ‘One man’s ego cost State `9,000 crore’ “PPAs were cancelled arbitrarily, leading to legal battles earlier. If the previous YSRCP government had honoured the PPAs, these issues wouldn’t have arisen,” the Chief Minister said, and added that the ego of a single person cost the State exchequer `9,000 crore 2019-24, the mismanagement pushed the energy sector into crisis. PPAs were cancelled arbitrarily leading to legal battles. , Even at Davos, discussions were held on Andhra Pradesh’s policy failures. “Due to these wrong decisions, the High Court ordered the government to pay `9,000 crore in penalties. If the previous government had honoured the PPAs, these issues wouldn’t have arisen,” Naidu said, and added that the ego of a single person cost the State exchequer `9,000 crore. He described the five years under the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government as dark days for the State. He contrasted this with his administration’s swift action, claiming that in just nine months since taking office, his government has revitalised the devastated sector. He elaborated on the legacy of power sector reforms under the TDP, which he said pioneered India’s first energy overhaul in 1998, making Andhra Pradesh a power surplus State by 2004. However, he lamented that these gains were undone by subsequent regimes, including a 17.6% power deficit in 2012-13 under Jagan’s predecessors, far exceeding the national average of 8.7%, the Chief Minister exP4 plained.  Pricey Starlink to target niche customers in India RAK E S H KU M AR @ New Delhi ELON Musk-led Starlink may target niche customers in India due to its pricing, which is significantly higher than the services provided by Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio. According to a report by Bernstein, Starlink’s satellite technology offers advantages in remote areas but its high cost and potential speed variability make it less attractive to consumers in urban and semi-urban regions, where Airtel and Jio provide affordable and reliable broadband services. Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have recently announced separate partnerships with Starlink to offer broadband services in India. Both companies have clarified that services will commence only after Starlink receives approval from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). Industry insiders say the DoT is likely to grant a licence to the Musk-led company soon. In fact, Union minisElon Musk ter for Electronics & COSTLY AFFAIR Starlink Bharti Airtel Reliance Jio Speed (mbps) 50-200 100 200 100 200 Initial upfront 52,242 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 fees (J) Per month 10,469 799 999 699 999 fees (J) Tax and 30 18 18 18 18 levies (%) Total annual 2,15,600 12,314 15,146 10,898 15,146 price (J) Information Technology Ashwini , Vaishnaw, welcomed Starlink to India through a social media post on Wednesday night. However, the minister later deleted the post. Meanwhile, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is yet to release its recommendations on the pricing and other modalities for satellite broadband. Reports suggest that the telecom regulator plans to recommend satellite broadband spectrum be allotted for five years instead of 20 years to assess initial market adoption. Policy directive out to launch Nuclear Energy Mission RA J E S H KU M AR THAKUR @New Delhi THE Centre has issued a policy directive to launch the Nuclear Energy Mission (NEM) as part of the country’s energy transition efforts. The mission focuses on research and development of new reactor designs and technologies. To achieve this, the government will allow private investors and sectors to participate in largescale deployments of existing technologies. In response to a query in the Lok Sabha, Dr Jitendra “The task force is examSingh, Minister of State ining aspects such as for Personnel, Public building, owning, and opGrievances, Pensions and erating nuclear power the PMO, said NEM necesplants by private sector; sitates capacity building, nuclear safety, security, and to facilitate active safeguards, fuel procurepartnerships with the priment/fabrication, waste Jitendra Singh vate sector, amendments management, and spent to the Atomic Energy Act fuel reprocessing,” the and the Civil Liability for Nuclear minister added. Damage Act are being pursued. The government also plans to Dr Singh said a task force has partner with the private sector to been set up to review these set up Bharat Small Reactors amendments. (BSR), with NPCIL floating a Re- quest-for-Proposal to private industries. These reactors will be commissioned and operated by NPCIL but set up with private capital. “With ... private investment, it is expected that the strategy for scaling up the nuclear sector will send a strong signal to participate and plan for capacity and infrastructure expansion for nuclearrelated projects...,” he said. The government is also working towards making Nuclear Power Projects (NPPs) eligible for climate finance, Dr Singh said. Inter academic year to start from April 1, 2025 E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada The 77th meeting of the Board of Intermediate Education, Andhra Pradesh (BIEAP) held under the chairmanship of Human Resource Development Minister N Lokesh on Thursday approved several transformative reforms as , per the public opinion received from January 8 to 26 to enhance the quality and accessibility of education. As per the reforms, the academic year will start from April 1, 2025 instead of June 1, 2025. Admissions for the first year Intermediate will start from April 7, 2025 instead of June 1, 2025. Final examinations for both first and second year Intermediate students will start from the last week of February, The meeting of the BIE being held 2026 instead of March, 2026 under the chairmanship of HRD for the academic year 2025Minister N Lokesh | Express 26. To increase flexibility in subject selection, and encourage multidisciplinary learning, the Intermediate Board gave the nod for introduction of elective subjects as the second subject (out of 5 total subjects) for first year students from the academic year 2025-26. Students can now choose an elective as their second subject from 24 options across languages, science and P4 humanities.