IMD: April-June may be hotter than usual bengaluru l tuesday l april 01, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION India is likely to experience hotterthan-usual temperatures from April to June, with more heatwave days in central and western plains. States likely to see above-normal heatwave days are Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, MP, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and the northern parts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, IMD chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said in an online press conference on Monday | P7 Photo: S Dinesh 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 Succession speculation on TODAY Modi trashed by Fadnavis New Money Rules from A series of financial changes will take effect from today New I-T slabs Under the new tax regime, no tax to be paid for salaried individual earning up to B12.75 lakh a year (Nil tax till B12 lakh + B75,000 standard deduction) Unified Pension Scheme Under this, Central government employees will get fixed pension equal to 50% of their average basic salary of last 12 months New UPI rules If your mobile number is inactive or unused for a long time, update it with your bank before April 1, to avoid losing access to UPI payments Goods and Services Tax Multi-factor authentication will be made mandatory for taxpayers for better security on the GST portal Rubbishes Raut’s claim, says the PM would lead India beyond 2029 S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i & RA J E SH K U M AR T HA K UR @ Mumbai/New Delhi Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday rubbished speculation about Narendra Modi’s successor, a day after the latter visited the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur. He added that Modi would continue to lead the country beyond 2029, when the next Lok Sabha polls are due. Fadnavis was reacting to Uddhav Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s statement earlier in the day that Modi’s visit to the RSS HQ was to “announce his retirement” and discuss his succession plan. “In 2029, we will see Modi as the prime minister again,” Fadnavis told the media in Nagpur. “There is no need to search for his successor. He (Modi) is our leader and will continue,” he asserted. “In our culture, when the father is alive, it is inappropriate to talk about succession. That is Mughal culture. The time has not come to discuss it,” Fadnavis said. Raut had claimed that Modi’s successor would be from Maharashtra. Separately, former RSS general secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi, too, said he was not aware of any talk of the prime minister’s replacement. “It appears that Modi’s successor will be decided by the RSS which is why Modi was called (to Nagpur) and discussions took place. Sangh’s discussions are held behind closed doors. The indications are very clear. The Sangh will decide the next leader, who could be from Maharashtra,” Raut claimed. As for choosing a successor for BJP’s national president J P Nadda, the party is reportedly in the process of shortlisting candidates. Among the frontrunners are Union ministers Manohar Lal Khattar, Dharmendra Pradhan and Bhupendra Yadav, along with three women—finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP Parliamentary Board member Sudha Ya d a v, a n d D a g g u b a t i Purandeswari, party president of the Andhra Pradesh unit. The final decision is expected by mid-April, with the official announcement at the upcoming BJP National Council meeting in Bengaluru. straight from screen ‘Money Heist’ inspires gang to steal 17 kg gold E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Davanagere The Davanagere district police on Monday successfully cracked one of the most infamous bank heists in the country and recovered 17 kg of gold worth Rs 13 crore after arresting six accused. The police investigation revealed that the accused had watched “Money Heist” and other crime series on Netflix and other OTT channels and took extensive notes by going through endless YouTube videos before committing the crime. Their preparation went on for six months and when they robbed the bank, they did not leave a clue, sending the local police on a wild goose chase. The six accused targeted Nyamathi branch of State Bank of India, only because the bank did not extend a loan to the heist mastermind who wanted to expand his bakery business. The theft took place on October 28, 2024. Six teams of police took five long months before arresting Vijay Kumar, the mastermind, Ajay Kumar, A b h i s h e k , M a n j u n at h , Chandru and Paramanand. The stolen 17 kg gold was recovered from a dilapidated well inside a deep jungle in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Vijay, Ajay and Paramanand, originally from Tamil Nadu, were running a bakery business in Nyamati for several years, while the other three, Manjunath, Abhishek, and Chandru, are local residents from Honnali and Nyamati. While running away from the scene of the crime, the gang removed CCTV cameras and took away the digital video recorder (DVR). They threw chilli powder on their escape route to mislead dog squads. p3 Congress calls for quota in private edu institutions E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Expressing concern over the underrepresentation of backward classes in higher institutions, Congress on Monday asked the Centre to pass a law to provide reservation for SC/ STs, and OBCs in private educational institutions. Congress general secretary in-charge of communication Jairam Ramesh said a Parliamentary panel has recommended a new legislation to implement Article 15(5). It empowers the state to introduce reservation in admission at educational institutions, including private ones. He noted that Congress is committed to bringing legislation to implement Art 15(5) in private, non-minority educational institutions. He said the Central Educational Institutions (Reservations in Admission) Act, 2006 was passed and quota for SC, ST and socially and educationally backward classes was introduced from January 3, 2007.