kottayam l wednesday l april 09, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION scientists believe they have resurrected the dire wolves Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas biotech company, has successfully “de-extincted” the dire wolf, a species that roamed America 12,500 years ago closely resembles its ancestor, gray wolf rare tooth and skull used in study By harnessing ancient DNA, cloning, and gene-editing technology, scientists have created three dire wolf pups, essentially a hybrid species that closely resembles its extinct ancestor, the gray wolf. The dire wolf, a formidable predator and inspiration for HBO series “Game of Thrones,” was characterised by its size, wider head, thicker fur, and stronger jaw ■ ■ The researchers studied a 13,000 year-old dire wolf tooth unearthed in Ohio and a 72,000 year-old skull fragment found in Idaho They took blood cells from a gray wolf and genetically modified them before transferring the genetic material to an egg cell from a domestic dog. Embryos were then transferred to surrogates 62 days is the time it took for the new engineered pups to be born 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 Infighting within TMC spills out into the open Court invokes special powers to declare 10 TN bills as passed Guv sending reiterated bills to Prez illegal: SC Four timelines set for expedited action 1 2 3 In the case of withholding of assent or reservation of the bills for the President upon the aid and advice of the state’s ministers, the governor has to act within a month If assent is to be withheld, contrary to the advice of the ministers, the governor must return the bills with a message within 3 months If bill is to be reserved for the President, contrary to the advice of ministers, guv must do so within 3 months der Article 142 to make the bills re-presented to the governor, as deemed to have been In a landmark verdict, the Su- passed. preme Court on Tuesday held The court pronounced the the action of Tamil Nadu Gov- verdict after hearing a plea ernor R N Ravi to reserve 10 filed by the Tamil Nadu govbills for the President’s consid- ernment against Governor eration despite their reitera- Ravi for sitting over bills — tion by the state assembly “il- some for over three years — legal and arbitrary”. and later escalating them to The governor has no option the President. The bills were but to give assent to the bill sent to the President shortly that is presented to him after another bench in after re-passage in the the Punjab governor’s state assembly if it is case ruled that the unchanged, a two-judge gover nor does not bench comprising jushave pocket veto or tices J B Pardiwala and absolute veto over R Mahadevan said. bills by squatting over The court said the them. governor must act on “The governor canthe aid and advice of Governor R N Ravi not sit on bills and exthe state legislature. “Under ercise pocket veto over them. Article 200 of the Constitution, Article 200 gives the bills the governor does not possess passed by the state assembly any discretion and has to man- the authority of an Act. Withdatorily act on the aid and ad- out this Act, it is only a docuvice of the council of minis- ment of aspiration of people ters.” Article 200 of the which does not come into efConstitution deals with assent fect,” said Justice Pardiwala, to bills. who authored the judgment. The bench said once the gov- Pocket veto an indirect veto of ernor withholds assent, he is a bill by leaving it unsigned till obligated to follow the proce- it is too late for it to be dealt dure prescribed in the first with. proviso of Article 200, which is The court said though there on returning the bill to the was no specific time limit unHouse as soon as possible. It der Article 200 for the governor exercised its special power un- to take his call, it cannot lead S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a nt y @ New Delhi 4 If a bill is reiterated by the state assembly without change, the governor must grant assent within a month Justice J B Pardiwala to inertia. “Despite there being no prescribed time limits, Article 200 cannot be read in a manner which allows the governor to not take action on the bills, which are presented to him for assent and thereby delay, and essentially roadblock law-making machinery in the state,” it said. For the first time, the court set timelines for gubernatorial clearance of bills, adding failure to adhere to them could invite judicial scrutiny. It gave governors just one month to decide if they wanted to reserve a bill for the President’s consideration. If they wanted to withhold assent without the aid and advice of the council of ministers, they have to return the bill within three months. If the bill is reiterated after re-consideration by state assembly, the governor will have to mandatorily give his assent within a month. The governor must perform his role as a friend, philosopher and guide with dispassion and not be guided by political considerations, the verdict said. “In times of conflict, he must be the harbinger of consensus and resolution, lubricating the functioning of the state machinery by his sagacity wisdom, and not run it into , a standstill.” Kerala leaders hail SC verdict T’Puram: Political leaders from Kerala hailed the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that governors cannot indefinitely sit on bills sent by legislative assemblies for assent and are bound to act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan termed the verdict a strong affirmation of the federal structure and the democratic rights of the legislature. P5 The court had previously made it clear that governors must act based on the advice of the council of ministers. Going a step further, this verdict also sets a specific time frame within which bills must be acted upon Pinarayi Vijayan, CM Kerala: verdict can cover us too New Delhi: Soon after the Supreme Court on Tuesday pronounced the verdict declaring the action of TN governor to reserve the 10 bills for President was “illegal and arbitrary”, the Kerala government requested the CJI-led bench to list its writ petition, pending before it, regarding delay by the governor in giving assent to bills, before the bench headed by Justice J B Pardiwala. P7 Waqf Act comes into force, govt files caveat in Supreme Court Cong resolution calls Waqf Act polarising, foreign policy weak P r eet h a N a i r @ Ahmedabad From opposing the Waqf Act to India’s foreign policy, One Nation, One Election bill and proposed delimitation to economic and education policy the , political resolution being discussed at the All India Congress Committee session in Ahmedabad vows to strengthen organisational capacity and competence to fight for Nyay (justice) for every Indian. While the Congress Working Committee meeting on Tuesday gave the draft resolution its final shape, it is expected to be passed at the AICC session on Wednesday . Reaffirming the party’s opposition to the contentious Waqf Act and anti-conversion laws, the resolution said the party is committed to fighting the politics of religious, linguistic, caste-based, and regional divisions. The resolut i o n s a i d t h e Wa q f a n d anti-conversion laws are part of BJP’s polarising strategy . “We will not allow India to be divided, nor will we allow those who seek to divide it to succeed in their diabolical designs. Our path is clear: Quit hate, Unite India,” it said. Terming the Centre’s foreign policy a weak-kneed one, the Nationalism pitch Terming the Congress party’s idea of nationalism as one that binds people together, the resolution said ‘the pseudo-nationalism of the BJP-RSS’ seeks to divide the nation over region, language, attire, and food habits resolution said the BJP government has compromised the country’s foreign policy at the altar of individual branding and serving vested interests. “Though Congress remains a strong votary of close ties with the US, it can never happen at the expense of India’s national interests,” said the resolution. “During the PM’s visit to Washington, D.C., we were publicly insulted and our country was labelled as a ‘Tariff Abuser’. Indian migrants were treated like animals and deported from the US in chains and handcuffs,” it said. On the border dispute, the resolution said China has illegally occupied 2,000 sq km of Indian territory in Eastern Ladakh. Yet, the BJP government has failed to restore the status quo ante, as it existed before April 2020, the Congress resolution noted. S U L A G N a S E N G U P TA @ Kolkata Bitter infighting within West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) surfaced on Tuesday after a video showing an alleged verbal altercation between party MPs and screenshots of their exchanges from its official WhatsApp group went viral on social media. Amit Malviya, head of BJP’s IT cell, shared the screenshots, indicating a bitter argument between TMC MPs Kalyan Banerjee, Kirti Azad and Mauha Moitra. The authenticity of the screenshots couldn’t be independently verified. But this newspaper spoke to many senior leader of the TMC and none of them refuted the incident though they didn’t divulge any detail. Banerjee, speaking to reporters in Kolkata, acknowledged the altercation but blamed the ‘woman MP’ involved. “I’ve been in politics for 40 years. This woman MP asked the security at the EC office to arrest me. She hurled abuses at me. It’s me who fights in Parliament, not someone obsessed with a particular industrial house,” alleged Banerjee, the party’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha. He didn’t name the woman MP . “It was Kirti Azad who provoked me and lectured me on what to do. He’s the one who leaked the WhatsApp chats,” Banerjee claimed. Senior Trinamool Congress leaders said the issue has been brought to the attention of party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. 382 and counting... High no. of homebirths prods govt to explore legal options U nn i k r i s h n a n S @ T’Puram E x p r ess N e w s S e r v i c e @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court is likely to hear on April 15 a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. A final causelist is yet to be uploaded on the court website. The Centre on Tuesday filed a caveat in the Supreme Court and sought a hearing before any order was passed in the matter. A caveat is filed by a party in courts to ensure that no orders are passed without hearing it. Former Additional Solicitor General (ASG) and senior Supreme Court lawyer, K C Kaushik, speaking to this newspaper, said the Centre wanted a representation before any order is passed by the SC. “No ex-parte order should be issued without prior notice and an opportunity to be heard. The government wants to be the prime respondent in the matter,” he said. In another significant development, the Waqf (Amendment) Act came into force on Tuesday with the government issuing a notification. “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 (14 of 2025), the Central Government hereby appoints the 8th day of April, 2025 as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force,” the Ministry of Minority Affairs notification said. Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Sonia Gandhi during the CWC meeting | PTI one for the scrapbook A foreign tourist poses for a selfie in front of an installation made of discarded materials set up at Kanakakunnu in Thiruvananthapuram as part of ‘Vruthi 2025’, a national clean conclave organised by the local self-government department that begins on Wednesday | Vincent Pulickal Concerned over the high number of home births employing unscientific methods and the recent death of a woman in such an incident in Malappuram, the health department is exploring legal options to curb the practice. As per official data, the state reported 382 home births in the past 11 months. Health Minister Veena George convened a meeting of the Rapid Response Team on Tuesday to discuss potential penal actions under the Kerala Public Health Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. “District Medical Officers (DMOs) have been instructed to file culpable homicide charges against families if a woman dies due to complications from a home birth. This should serve as a deterrent,” Home Births in Kerala over the years 2019-20 467 2020-21 576 2021-22 586 2022-23 579 2023-24 523 2024-25 382 (till February) (Source Health Dept) DMOs have been asked to file culpable homicide charges against families if a woman dies due to complications from a home birth Veena George the minister told TNIE. Veena voiced serious concern over the role of acupuncture in complicating such births and vowed to clamp down on unscientific practices. “People have the constitutional right to choose their treatment. But acupuncture is not a medical treatment; it is merely a care procedure. Those practising it are not licensed medical professionals. If it is offered as a treatment, we will take strict action,” she said. Veena has also directed DMOs to make full use of the Kerala Public Health Act to counter misleading social media content that promotes unsafe and illegal practices. The rise in home births poses a threat to Kerala’s hardwon success in maternal and infant health, the minister said. While India’s maternal mortality rate stands at 97 per 1 lakh live births, Kerala has reduced it to just 19. Between April last year and February this year, the state recorded 2,94,058 births, of which 382 occurred at home, she said. In 2024 alone, the department linked 17 stillbirths and 12 neonatal deaths to ● More on P4 home births.  Man who ‘avenged’ his teen daughter’s rape-murder passes away P o o j a N a i r @Malappuram At Charankavu, a small village in Manjeri, a man who became the symbol of a father’s undying love and silent rage has bid his final farewell. Shankaranarayanan, 75, who was accused of shooting down the person who allegedly raped and killed his 13-year-old daughter, passed away at his home on Monday night due to age-related ailments. It was a February afternoon in 2001 that changed the course of Shankaranarayanan’s life, and shook the conscience of an entire state. His daughter, Krishnapriya, a Class VII student, was returning from school in Elankoor when she was raped and murdered allegdly by her neighbour, Muhammed Koya, 24, of Charankavu Kunnummal. The accused was soon caught, but was subsequently released on bail. On July 27, 2002, while he was walking free, a single bullet ended his life. The police later found that Krishnapriya’s father had pulled the trigger. Shankaranarayanan was arrested, and sentenced to life by the Manjeri Sessions Court. But in 2006, the Kerala High Court acquitted him citing lack of concrete evidence. The court noted the absence of the weapon used for murder and the possibility of other enemies to Koya due to his criminal background. It was a legal closure. Since that fateful day in 2001, Shankaranarayanan lived not as a free man, but as a father broken by grief. Neighbours recall how every convers a t i o n w i t h h i m wo u l d eventually veer towards his daughter. “He would sit on the verandah, her photograph clutched in his trembling hands,” said a neighbour from Poovvancheri. “He never stopped mourning her. Until his last breath, he lived in the memory of that child,” the neighbour said. A man of few words, Shanka- He would sit on the verandah, her photograph clutched in his hands... He never stopped mourning her. Until his last breath, he lived in the memory of that child — A neighbour of Shankaranarayanan ranarayanan was remembered not for what he said, but for the sorrow he carried so visibly He . lived in the same home in Chenottukunnu, rarely stepping out, surrounded by silence and memories. For the people here, he was never just Shankaranarayanan — he was Krishnapriya’s father, the man who dared to do what others only whispered in rage. Even after being acquitted, he neither denied nor confirmed the act.