hyderabad l Tuesday l may 20, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION rUSSIA, uKRAINE TO IMMEDIATELY START CEASEFIRE TALKS, SAYS tRUMP US President Donald Trump announced the news through his social media account after a two-hour call with Russian prez Vladimir Putin on Monday Moscow, Kyiv to negotiate ceasefire terms ‘Vatican ready to host negotiations’ On his telephone conversation with Putin, Trump said: “I believe it went very well. Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a ceasefire and, more importantly, an end to the war.” The conditions for the ceasefire, he said, will be negotiated between the two sides, as they know the “details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of” ■ ■ Trump said he has spoken to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen as well as other European leaders about the positive development “Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations,” Trump added | P9 Feb 24, 2022 When Russia invaded Ukraine, starting one of the longest wars 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 No N-signalling by Pak during conflict: Misri Foreign secretary briefs parliamentary panel, says US had no role in brokering the ceasefire Preetha N air @ New Delhi Maintaining that the recent conflict between India and Pakistan was always in the conventional domain, and there was no nuclear signalling by the neighbouring country For, eign Secretary Vikram Misri told a parliamentary committee on Monday that the United States had no role in the ceasefire between the two countries, sources said. The meeting came in the wake of Operation Sindoor to avenge the slaughter of 26 civilians in Pahalgam. According to sources, the three-and-a-half hour meeting saw several Opposition members questioning Misri on US President Donald Trump’s repeated assertion of his role in brokering a ceasefire between the two nations. Many members pointed out that the US is having a free run with its narrative of mediation and has succeeded in re-hyphenating India with Pakistan. “Misri replied that we have given sufficient response on this,” said a source. Another member pointedly questioned why India “allowed Trump to repeatedly seize the narrative”. Misri reiterated that India has been consistent with its stated position that the decision on ceasefire was taken at a bilateral level. “Misri emphatically told the panel that there was no US mediation in the ceasefire,” said a source. Some MPs asked if Pakistan used Chinese platforms in the TMC pulls out of all-party delegation The row over nomination of MPs to multi-party delegations continued on Monday, with the TMC’s Yusuf Pathan, named by the Centre in one of the delegations, opting out. The party said it was not boycotting the diplomatic exercise but wanted to assert its right to pick its representative. | P7 conflict. Misri said it did not matter as India hammered Pakistani air bases. On reports that India lost fighter jets during the conflict, he said it was the defence ministry’s call and didn’t want to go into such details. “The Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) informed his Pakistani counterpart that India struck nine terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and in Pakistan on May 7. Pakistan responded with an escalation, prompting India to retaliate. It was only after India’s retaliatory strikes, which included targeting key Pakistani air bases and disabling a runway at Nur Khan, that Pakistan requested a DGMO-level call,” he told the meeting. Sources said the panel unanimously condemned the trolling of Misri and praised his professional conduct. The meeting chaired by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was attended by several parliamentarians. SC junks telcos’ plea for waiver of dues R A K E S H K U M A R @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday rejected telecom companies’ pleas seeking waiver of the interest, penalty and interest on , penalty components of their pending adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, collectively amounting to over `80,000 crore. Terming the petitions by Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, and Tata Teleservices ‘misconceived’, a bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said: “We are shocked by these petitions which have come before us. Really disturbed. It is not expected of a multinational company We will dismiss it.” . Vodafone Idea, India’s third largest telecom service provider, had moved SC last week seeking a waiver of over `30,000 crore in it owes the government. Later, Bharti Airtel, along with its unit Bharti Hexacom, also filed a petition in the SC requesting a waiver of `34,745 crore in dues. Tata Teleservices sought relief on `16,798 crore it owes the government. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Vodafone Idea, sought an adjournment, saying the parties were trying to approach the government for relief. However, the bench rejected it and proceeded to dismiss the case. Revanth: Our work will thwart SIT to probe min’s conspiracies against the govt ‘shameful’ remarks E x p re s s N e w s Service Suchitra K alyan M o hanty Stating that certain individuals were attempting to spread misinformation through social media using illegally obtained funds, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday asserted that the truth would ultimately prevail. “People are aware of what the government is doing for the poor and for all sections of society,” he said, speaking after launching the Indira Soura Giri Jala Vikasam scheme in Macharam village, Amrabad mandal, Nagarkurnool district. He was joined by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and other Cabinet members. He added, “I am not concerned by those criticising the government. Some political forces are using social media to spread false propaganda with ill-gotten money. Our welfare programmes will speak for themselves, and people will recognise the truth.” He asserted that the people of the state would teach a befitting lesson to those who spread lies against his government. Following the launch, he distributed solar pump sets to several beneficiaries.  continued on P4 The Supreme Court on Monday castigated Madhya Pradesh minister Kunwar Vijay Shah for his scurrilous “sister of terrorists” remarks against Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and ordered setting up a three-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe the FIR against him in the matter. “The entire nation was in shame due to the comments... We saw your videos, you were on the verge of using very filthy language but somehow better sense prevailed or you did not find suitable words. You should be shameful. Entire country is proud of our Army and you made this statement,” said a two-judge bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh. The court brushed aside his apology and wondered if “they were crocodile tears or an at- @ New Delhi @ Hyderabad Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy lifts his grandson to help him ring the bell as his wife watches at the Anjaneya Swamy temple in Kondareddypalle on Monday Chief minister unveils Nallamala Declaration Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday unveiled the Nallamala Declaration in which his govt promises to implement Indira Soura Giri Jala Vikasam, provide Indiramma Houses to all Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group families and assistance to one lakh ST youth with a subsidy of `1,000 crore under Rajiv Yuva Vikasam scheme | P4 Fire: A day after, only memories remain C H I T H A L U R I R E V A N T H @ Hyderabad A day after the horrific fire that consumed the lives of 17 members of a single family in Gulzar Houz, grief hangs heavy in the air. At his home in Attapur, Govind Modi, son of Prahlad Modi—who led the ill-fated family—remains locked in a silence that words cannot break. Shock has settled over him like ash; the horror of that Sunday morning plays repeatedly in his mind, an unrelenting echo of what was lost. The house, once filled with laughter, conversations and the hum of daily life, now survives in Pic | Sri Loganathan Velmurugan memory. Those moments, once ordinary now haunt the , emptiness left behind. When TNIE met him, Govind was seated in quiet devastation, unable to articulate the sorrow he bore. His eyes were dry, his voice strained. “No one should experience this kind of nightRelatives of the fire mare,” he finally said, after victims comfort each a long silence. His voice falother on Monday tered as he spoke of the children—nieces and nephews— who had once climbed onto his shoulders, whose lives were folded into his own. “Oh, my kids...” he whispered, before emotion overtook him. Recounting the moment he heard about the fire, Govind said he rushed from Attapur to Gulzar Houz, desperate and helpless. “I reached there before the fire engines did,” he said, with a voice brittle with anguish. “If they had come earlier… maybe some of them could have been saved.” His words carried the weight of quiet despair. “I don’t want to accuse anyone,” he said. “But no one should have to go through this.” Govind now faces a silence that no comfort can fill. The house is gone, but it’s the voices, the lives and the memories it held that he mourns the most. moonlighting Young woman did 141 jobs in 7 years! U M A K A N N A N @ Bengaluru HOW many day jobs can one manage simultaneously? Not one, two, or three. In a startling revelation, background verification firm OnGrid said that a candidate was on the payrolls of 10 different companies at the same time, between 2018 and 2021, without a single day’s gap between roles. Not just that. The candidate, a woman in her early 30s, had 141 jobs in seven years. OnGrid said it found out this extreme case of moonlighting using its Employment History Check solution, powered by verified EPFO data. In 2020, while the world grappled with layoffs and employment uncertainty this in, dividual clocked 50 new jobs, switching between start-ups, large enterprises, and MNCs. OnGrid had earlier witnessed cases of candidates clocking jobs in doubledigits. But a moonlighting of this scale was a first. “As remote work, freelancing, and hybrid models become the norm, employment risks are also evolving. Traditional background checks are simply not enough anymore,” said Piyush Peshwani, co-founder & CEO, OnGrid. “This case is a wakeup call,” he added. A d i t ya N a r aya n Mishra, MD & CEO of CIEL HR said people moonlight not just for extra income. It can be for pursuing a passion project, acquiring new skills, or giving back to the community through teaching, he said. tempt to wriggle out of the legal proceedings”. “The kind of crass comments you made, completely thoughtlessly We don’t need this apol... ogy the court said. ,” It asked the Director General of Police in Madhya Pradesh to constitute the SIT by Tuesday . “We are constituting a SIT with three IPS officers and one should be the rank of IG or DGP rank. All of them should be [from] outside the state. It is a litmus test and we want the state to submit the SIT report to us. We would like to have a very close watch,” the court said. The bench, however, stayed Shah’s arrest. Criticising the Madhya Pradesh government for its inaction in the matter, the court asked, “What have you done after registering the FIR? Has he [SHO] examined what kind of offence is made out? What is the status?” Double lives Moonlighting means employees doing a second job or a side gig alongside their main job. During the pandemic, this practice had ignited debates with IT firms warning staff against living “double lives” SC agrees to hear Ashoka varsity prof’s plea against arrest Top court on Monday agreed to consider Ashoka University faculty Ali Khan Mahmudabad’s plea against his arrest for social media post on Op Sindoor | P7