TIRUCHY l tuesday l april 29, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Russia announces unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine next week Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a 72-hr ceasefire from May 8 midnight to May 10 midnight to mark Victory Day Ukraine dismisses it as ‘window dressing’ Need permanent ceasefire, says Trump The Kremlin said the truce was on humanitarian grounds. “Russia believes the Ukrainian side should follow this example,” the Kremlin said, adding its forces will respond in kind if Ukraine violates the ceasefire. Dismissing Putin’s move as ‘window dressing’, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said: “If Russia truly wants peace, it must cease fire immediately.” ■ ■ The development comes after US President Donald Trump expressed doubts about Putin’s interest in ending the war. The White House said Trump wanted a permanent ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine This is the second unilateral truce offer by Putin, following a 30-hour Easter ceasefire that saw each side accusing the other of violating it May 9 Is celebrated as Victory day to mark Soviet Union’s victory in World War-II 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 showers sops on govt staff & teachers, hikes DA E x p r e s s N e w s S e rv i c e @ Chennai With just a year left for the Assembly poll, Chief Minister M K Stalin on Monday showered government employees and teachers with sops by offering them bonanza under nine heads. The package — which includes 2% hike in Dearness Allowance (DA), restoration of Earned Leave Surrender System, and increase in festival and marriage advance — would entail an additional annual expenditure of `5,000 crore to the state exchequer. “The `10,000 and `6,000 marriage advance being given to female and male employees, respectively, is being increased manifold and employees and teachers will now get `5 lakh,” Stalin said. The CM, however, did not provide any assurance on reverting to the old pension scheme. Instead, he directed the committee headed by IAS officer Gagandeep Singh Bedi — which is studying the Old Pension Scheme, the Cont r i bu t o r y Pe n s i o n Scheme and the Unified Pension Scheme — to submit its report early . The committee, which was formed in February and asked to submit its report in nine months (October), has now been told to give its report by September 30. The CM said the Earned Leave Sur render System, which was to be restored from April 1, 2026, would be enforced from October 1, 2025, following representations from government employees and teachers. Now, the employees can encash up to 15 days of earned leave. The CM said this measure would benefit around eight lakh government employees and teachers, and cost the state `3,561 crore per annum. Stalin said the DA for state government employees would be hiked by 2% on a par with the increase given by the union government for its staff with retrospective effect from January 1, 2025.  P5 HC in balaji case ‘Cash-for-jobs a master plan of scientific corruption’ R s i v a k u m a r @ Chennai The Madras High Court on Monday said the fabrication of marks of meritorious candidates in the ‘cash-for-jobs’ scam was a ‘well-executed master plan that enabled scientific corruption’. A bench of Justices R Subramanian and G Arul Murugan reserved orders on appeals filed in the alleged corruption in the appointment of junior engineers (JEs) in the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) during V Senthil Balaji’s tenure as transport minister in the AIADMK government in 2015. “We are seeing an attempt is made to either delay the proceedings or to hijack this case from this bench,” the judges said. The court made the rem a rk s wh i l e hearing the writ appeals filed by A Nambi Senthil Balaji Venkatesh and others, whose marks were allegedly “lowered” to favour less meritorious candidates, challenging the order of a single judge. They filed a writ petition in 2021 seeking to quash the selection orders issued for appointing 33 junior engineers (JE) and 63 assistant engineers (AEs) in 2015. The single judge (Justice Vivek Kumar Singh), in his order dated December 13, 2024, refused to quash the selection order and, instead, directed the MTC to make a “fresh consideration” of grievances of the petitioners. Advocate N Subramaniyan, arguing the appeals, submitted that 33 JEs were appointed against the actual notification of 13, while 63 AEs were appointed against the notified 40 vacancies in violation of norms.  P5 Supreme court refuses to cancel bail | P5 Canada votes to determine its next PM Canadians will decide whether to extend Mark Carney-led Liberal Party’s decade in power or hand control to the Conservatives, led by opposition leader Pierre Poilievre | P9 take a bow! Only 14, Rajasthan Royals’ Vaibhav Suryavanshi became the youngest to smash an IPL ton. He hit the second fastest 100 (35 balls) behind Chris Gayle (30) | sportzpics | P11 Omar Abdullah says he will not use the Pahalgam brutality to demand statehood Rajnath meets Modi; Pak says incursion imminent E x p r e s s N e w s S e rv i c e @ New Delhi J&K MLAs, including CM Omar Abdullah, pay homage to the victims of the Pahalgam attack, in the assembly on Monday | PTI Assault on Kashmiriyat: J&K House resolution F aya z W a n i @ Srinagar A special session of the J&K assembly on Monday passed a unanimous resolution describing the April 22 terror attack on tourists at Pahalgam as a direct assault on Kashmiriyat, the Constitution and the spirit of unity, peace and harmony. As many as 25 tourists and a local resident were slaughtered in the attack. But what caught the eye was a contrite Omar Abdullah admitting he had failed in his capacities as chief minister and tourism minister to protect the lives of tourists. Participating in the debate, he added that he will not use the Pahalgam incident to demand statehood. “How can I use the Pahalgam incident to demand restoration of statehood from the Centre? I do not believe in cheap politics... Curse on me if I go to the Centre and tell them that 26 peo- ple have died and now give me statehood.” Omar described the massacre as the beginning of the end of terror in Kashmir and cautioned against taking any step or action that “distances people from us and hurts this spontaneous protest”. He was alluding to the recent demolition of houses of terrorists and mass arrests. “This was not just an attack on people from one state — it was an attack on the very soul of India. The victims hailed from across India, from Arunachal Pradesh to Gujarat, from Kerala to J&K. The whole country has been affected by this attack,” he said. “I fully know that J&K’s security is not the responsibility of the elected government but as CM and tourism minister I had invited them to visit here and as a host it was my responsibility to ensure the safety of tourists, but I failed to do so,” the Omar said. 16 Pakistani Youtube channels blocked ment spokesperson said. The spokesperson reiterated that that Washington “stands with India and strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Pahalgam”, echoing recent remarks by President Donald Trump and Vice President J D Va n c e . B o t h leaders had expressed solidarity with New Delhi following the April 22 assault, which left 26 dead, with Trump describing it as a “bad one” and acknowledging the deep-rooted tensions over Kashmir. “This is an evolving situation and we are monitoring developments closely. We have New Delhi: The govt blocked 16 Pakistani YouTube channels for allegedly disseminating “false, provocative and communally sensitive content” about India. It also objected to the BBC’s reportage on Pahalgam Rana’s Nia custody extended by 12 days New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday extended by 12 more days the NIA custody of 26/11 Mumbai attack accused Tahawwur Rana. The special court extended his custody on NIA’s request after his previous 18-day remand got over Man held for window damage at mission London: An Indian-origin man was arrested on Sunday for allegedly smashing the windows of the Pak High Commission here following protest over the Pahalgam massacre. Ankit Love, 41, was charged with criminal damage Amid heightened security activity in J&K as India weighs it options following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, defence minister Rajnath Singh on Monday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and briefed him on the ongoing operations. The closed-door meeting lasted around 40 minutes. Earlier in the day Rajnath , was given a detailed briefing by Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on the ground situation in J&K. Rajnath Singh, The meet- defence minister ing came on a day when Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told news agency Reuters that a military incursion by India was imminent. “We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now,” he said, adding some strategic decisions have been taken. Asif said Pakistan would only use its arsenal of nuclear weapons if “there is a direct threat to our existence”. Meanwhile, the Line of Control remained active with Pak Army indulging in small arms fire in the Kupwara and Poonch sectors. India may let China Work towards a responsible resolution, says US invest via JV route J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi R a k e s h K u m a r @ New Delhi In a move that could allow Chinese equipment manufacturers to operate in India, the Centre is considering permitting Chinese companies to invest under the Electronics Component Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme through joint ventures with Indian firms. According to industry sources, the government is mulling allowing Chinese companies to own up to 26% in JVs for specific critical electronics components, while maintaining a 10% equity cap for most other categories. In all cases, the management and control of the JV will remain with the Indian partner. Additionally, such JVs will need to secure approvals under the FDI norms. The latest move comes after Chinese companies agreed to most of the terms and conditions, including the transfer of technology to India. India-China relations touched their lowest point in April 2020 after the Galwan clashes. Subsequently, India mandated that FDI from entities or individuals based in countries sharing land borders with India would need prior government approval. The government allowed Chinese firms to operate in India only through partnerships with Indian firms. The reason for allowing Chinese firms into India is China’s existing strength in component manufacturing infrastructure and scale. The government views Chinese investment as key to building a strong component ecosystem in India and raising value addition in smartphones and consumer electronics from the current 15–20% to 30–40%. India has been also accelerating visa clearances of Chinese technicians involved in PLI scheme and electronic manufacturing projects. The United States on Monday said it is closely monitoring rising tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack and called upon the two neighbours to pursue a “responsible resolution” to the crisis. “The United States encourages all parties to work together towards a responsible resolution,” a State Depart- express read Mano Thangaraj sworn in as milk and dairy minister Chennai: T Mano Thangaraj, DMK MLA from Padmanabhapuram Assembly constituency in Kanniyakumari district, was sworn in as minister in the cabinet headed by Chief Minister M K Stalin on Monday. As expected, Thangaraj was given the portfolio of milk and dairy development which he was holding earlier | P4 Court revives DA case against Minister Periyasamy Chennai: The Madras HC on Monday revived the disproportionate assets case filed against Rural Development Minister I Periyasamy and his family. The court passed the orders on DVAC’s petitions challenging the discharge of Periyasamy and his kin by a Dindigul court | P2 India, France ink `63,000 cr deal for Rafale-M M aya n k S i n g h @ New Delhi India and France on Monday formally concluded the `63,000crore ($7.4 billion) deal for 26 Rafale-Marine fighter jets, in a move aimed at significantly enhancing the Indian Navy’s maritime combat capabilities. According to the contract, French military aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation will deliver 22 single-seater jets and four twin-seater trainers. “The agreement includes training, simulator, associated equipment, weapons and performance-based logistics. It also includes additional equipment for the existing Rafale Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh with other officials during the signing of an Inter-Governmental Agreement for the procurement of 26 Rafale aircraft | PIB via PTI fleet of the Indian Air Force,” the statement added. Sources said the delivery of the first Rafale-M aircraft is expected to be delivered by May 2028 and the 26th aircraft by 2030, with the crew undergoing training in France and India. “There would be aircraft-specific inspections to check and validate Indian Navy specific enhancements,” they added. Rafale-M jets will operate from Indian Navy’s aircraft carriers INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya. The agreement includes transfer of technology for integration of indigenous weapons in India. It also includes setting up of a production facility for Rafale fuselage as well as maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities for aircraft engines, sensors and weapons in India. The Indian Air Force already operates 36 Rafale combat jets. The new contract is for 26 naval variant of the Rafale combat jets. This newspaper had reported on April 9 that Cabinet Committee on Security had cleared the Rafale-M deal. been in touch with the governments of India and Pakistan at multiple levels,” a US State Department spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement. The statement said that the US administration is in touch with the governments of India and Pakistan at “multiple levels”. The United States encourages all parties to work together towards a responsible resolution — US State Department spokesperson SC upholds life sentences of woman’s dad, brother in 2003 ‘honour killing’ case S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the appeals filed by 12 convicts in the infamous ‘honour killing’ of Kannagi and Murugesan of Cuddalore in 2003. The inter-caste couple in their early twenties was killed by administering poison by the girl’s family members in full public view. A two-judge bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and P K Mishra upheld the 2022 Madras High Court verdict sentencing nine convicts to life imprisonment, acquitting two others, and commuting the death penalty of Kannagi’s brother Marudhupandian to life imprisonment. “The reason behind the murder was that Kannagi, belonging to Vanniyar community, had dared to marry Murugesan, a Dalit from the same village of Puthukooraipettai. At the root of this crime is the deeply entrenched hierarchical caste system Kannagi and Murugesan in India, and ironically, this most dishonorable act goes by the name of honour killing,” the judges said. “We see no reason to interfere with the Madras HC order. All those appellants who are on bail are directed to surrender within two weeks, and must undergo their remaining sentence,” the bench said. The apex court also directed the Tamil Nadu government to pay `5 lakh compensation to Murugesan’s parents. “We aw a r d c o m p e n s a t i o n o f `5,00,000 to Samikannu, Murugesan’s father, and Chinnapillai, Mur u g e s a n’s s t e p mother, jointly, or to the nearest of kin,” it said.  P5