THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l wednesday l april 23, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION Maharashtra rolls back its diktat on Hindi as 3rd language Maharashtra has stayed its order to make Hindi mandatory as a third language for Classes 1 to 5 in Marathi and English-medium schools decision comes after stiff opposition The decision taken last week met with stiff resistance from different quarters, including some opposition parties, and comes days after the Maharashtra government’s language consultation committee urged CM Devendra Fadnavis to revoke the decision. School Education Minister Dada Bhuse said the Centre did not pressure them to “impose” Hindi ■ 3 learning hindi will be made voluntary ■ A senior minister of Maharashtra government said a new order will be issued making it voluntary to learn Hindi in these classes Rahul Rekhawar, Director of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), said efforts will be taken to ensure students do not feel any pressure of learning a third language language formula is part of the new curriculum under NEP 43604/8 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 Illustration: Mandar Pardikar Lidder river Baisaran Valley Pahalgam Amarnath Yatra Base Camp Tourists enjoying a balmy afternoon at Baisaran meadow, a non-motorable spot about 5-10 km from Pahalgam Terrorists in combat uniform emerge from the dense forest around the site, ask tourists about their identity Terrorists open fire selectively on Hindus; 28 killed, including two foreigners and a couple of locals 28 massacred in J&K F aya z W a n i @ Srinagar In one of the biggest attacks on tourists coinciding with the visit of US Vice President J D Vance to India, terrorists on Tuesday massacred 28 people, most of them tourists, in J&K’s Pahalgam area and injuring many others. Among the victims were two foreigners from UAE and Nepal and a couple of locals. Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia and returned home after the business part of his trip was over. Official sources said twothree terrorists emerged from the dense forest around the Baisaran meadow, a scenic but non-motorable spot about 5-10 km from Pahalgam around 2.30 pm. They were heavily armed and in combat uniform. The terrorists separated the Hindu tourists from the rest after checking their identity and fired on them indiscriminately sources said. , Waseem Khan, a security guard, said he heard the firing but initially thought it was due to firecrackers. “The firing continued for 10 minutes. As there were cries, we rushed to the spot and saw bodies lying on the ground. Some of them were dead and some injured,” he said. Baisaran, which is known as mini Switzerland for its lush green meadows, can be reached only through foot or on horses. “You cannot go to the area in the vehicles because there is no motorable road,” he said. In a viral video, a woman tourist, whose husband was shot at by militants, said, “We were enjoying bhelpuri and my husband was sitting by my side, when an individual came and shot at him. He thought he is not a Muslim and fired. “Please save my husband,” she pleaded. One of the victims was Manjunath Rao, a businessman from Shivamogga district of Karnataka. The victims included Prasant Kumar Satpathy from Odisha, Manish Ranjan from Hyderabad and N Ramachandran from Kochi. A tourist from Maw Nagar, Gujarat, said he was travelling on horse back when the terrorists fired. “I was hit in the right arm,” he said. He is under treatment in Anantnag. The Resistance Front, a shadow group of Lashkar-eToiba, claimed responsibility for the attack. 3.5K% IMF says economic outlooks for US and world have worsened significantly due to trade war US wants to slap up to a whopping 3,500% tariff on solar panels from Southeast Asia to address dumping V-P J D Vance urges India to drop non-tariff barriers, give greater access to its markets, buy more US energy and military products levy plan Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks at fighter jets of Royal Saudi Air Force escorting his aircraft as it arrives in Jeddah on Tuesday | PTI PM’s Saudi trip to push trade ties j aya n t h j a c o b @ New Delhi INDIA and Saudi Arabia have agreed to deepen cooperation across multiple strategic sectors, including defence, investment, culture, and space after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The announcement came during the second meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) the two leaders. The leaders agreed to establish a new Ministerial Committee on Defence Cooperation to oversee joint military exercises, training, and industrial partnerships. The Council also announced creation of a Ministerial Committee on Tourism and Cultural Cooperation. A key highlight was the progress made by the HighLevel Task Force on Investment. Saudi Arabia reaffirmed to invest $100 billion in India across energy petro, chemicals, infrastructure, technology, economy, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and healthcare. Both sides agreed to jointly establish two new oil refineries in India. Pro g ress on taxation frameworks was also noted as a major breakthrough to further ease bilateral investment flow. MoUs were signed for space collaboration, public health cooperation, and anti-doping education. A pact was signed between Saudi Post and India Post. 16 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express Video grab of security personnel taking scared tourists to safety at the massacre site in J&K’s Pahalgam Kochi native among terror attack victims E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Kochi A Kochi native was among those killed in Tuesday’s Pahalgam terror attack. As per news reaching the family, N Ramachandran, 65, son of Narayana Menon of Srambickal family in Edappally was shot dead by , terrorists when he went for trekking along with daughter Arathy to Pahalgam’s ‘Mini Switzerland’ around 3 pm on Tuesday. Arathy escaped unhurt. Ramachandran, a businessman who was based in Qatar, had returned to Kochi recently He went to . visit Kashmir along with wife Shiela Ramachandran, Arathy and two grandsons on Monday The family boarded a flight from . Kochi to Hyderabad from where they got the connection flight to Srinagar. According to family members, Shiela and the two children were not with Ramachandran when the tourist group was surrounded by terrorists. It was Arathy who informed relatives about the incident. She said her mother and children are safe. PM Modi cuts short Saudi visit, returns New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi has decided to cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia and return to India in the wake of the J&K attack. He was originally scheduled to return on Wednesday night but will now arrive in Delhi by early Wednesday morning The perpetrators are animals, inhuman: CM “This attack on our visitors is an abomination. The perpetrators of this attack are animals — inhuman and worthy of contempt,” Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said Those involved will not be spared, says Shah “Those involved in this dastardly act of terror will not be spared. We will come down heavily on the perpetrators with the harshest consequences.” Union home minister Amit Shah said Delhi High Court tears into Ramdev on ‘sharbat jihad’ S h e k h a r S i n g h @New Delhi YOGA guru and Patanjali founder Baba Ramdev on Tuesday was ordered by the Delhi High Court to take down videos in which he made communal remarks targeting food company Hamdard and its popular drink ‘Rooh Afza’. The move follows a civil lawsuit filed by Hamdard National Foundation (India) after Ramdev accused the company of funding religious institutions and used the term ‘sharbat jihad’ to describe their product. Justice Amit Bansal of the Delhi High Court said the Patanjali founder’s comments in the videos were “indefensible” and “shocked the conscience of the court.” Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Hamdard, submitted, “This is a case which goes beyond disparagement. This is a case of creating communal divide, akin to hate speech. It will not have protection from law of defamation,” Rohatgi submitted. The video, posted on April 3, contained explicit references to Rooh Afza, with Ramdev alleging that buying the drink funded religious extremism. Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar, appearing for Ramdev, said the videos are being taken down Justice Bansal directed Ramdev to file an affidavit that he would refrain from posting divisive content on social media in future. Bizman, wife murdered weeks after CBI begins probe into son’s death E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Kottayam A 70-year-old businessman and his wife were found murdered inside their house in Thiruvathukkal, Kottayam, on Tuesday morning. The bodies of T K Vijayakumar and wife Meera, 67 — bearing multiple wounds from a sharp weapon — were found in separate rooms, the police said. Vijayakumar is the owner of Indraprastha Auditorium in Thirunakkara. The couple’s murder comes weeks after the CBI launched a probe into the mysterious death of their son Gautam in 2017. Gautam’s body was found lying on the track near the Ottakapilmavu railway gate in Kottayam. When the police probe ruled it to be a case of suicide, the couple ap- Meera and T K Vijayakumar proached the Kerala High Court, which ordered a CBI investigation into Gautam’s death, citing the inquest report that showed there were grievous injuries all over his body . The double homicide came to light around 8am when the couple’s domestic help, Revamma, arrived for work. Finding the backdoor locked — a departure from routine — she entered through the front and stumbled upon the bodies, which had no clothes on them. She immediately alerted neighbours. Kottayam District Police Chief Shahul Hameed said the couple’s death was a clear case of homicide. “Both victims suffered multiple injuries, particularly on the face. It appears a sharp weapon was used. The absence of forced entry or robbery points to personal enmity ,” he said. A bloodstained billhook, suspected to be the murder weapon, was recovered from the house. The couple’s dog was found sedated and the hard disk of the home’s CCTV system was missing, raising suspicion of a premeditated attack. Police are focusing on Amit, a migrant worker who was removed from household work ● More on P4 months ago over a phone theft.  words spur change Thanks to Sneha’s poem, her school gets new building S h ya m P V @Palakkad It began with a poem penned by an eighth grader in 2021 at the height of the Covid pandemic. The verses, expressing unwavering belief in brighter days ahead – quiet reflections of a young mind – resonated far and wide, eventually finding a place in the preface of the budget speech presented by then finance minister T M Thomas Isaac. On Tuesday four years down , the line, the poem by Sneha Kannan became the reason for a major development: the inauguration of the new school Sneha Kannan in front of the new school building building of Government High School, Kuzhalmannam, proving yet again how sincere, heartfelt words can bring about real change. The young poet had written the poem thinking it might appear in a children’s magazine. To her surprise, it was chosen for the budget speech. After presenting the budget, Isaac contacted Sneha. And during their conversation, she made a request: a facelift for her school, then functioning in a run-down rented building at the time. The response was swift. The government first allocated `3 crore, then another `4 crore to construct new building blocks for the school. Four years later, that vision took shape in concrete and steel. On Tuesday, at Vellappara, the new building of the school was inaugurated by Speaker A N Shamseer in the presence of Sneha. At the ceremony her poem echoed through , the new school campus once again, this time as the welcome song. “I’m overwhelmed that my poem helped my school get a new building. I never imagined my words would go this far. I am thankful to my teachers and the government for acting swiftly,” said Sneha, currently awaiting her Plus Two examination results. She is the younger daughter of Kannan, a driver, and Rumadevi. The high school section functioned in a building at the Kuzhalmannam block panchayat office complex, while the UP section operated in a rented structure at Kulavanmukku. Both sections will be shifted to the new building before the start of the new academic year.