TIRUNELVELI l saturday l may 24, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION some relief for harvard as federal judge blocks trump fiat A federal judge on Friday blocked a Trump administration decision to revoke Harvard University’s ability to enroll foreign students order violates first amendment, says Univ decision imperils future of all students The relief follows Harvard University suing the Trump administration’s decision to bar the Ivy League school from enrolling foreign students, calling it unconstitutional retaliation for defying the White House’s political demands. Harvard University said the fiat violates the First Amendment and will have a devastating effect for the university ■ ■ Harvard President Alan Garber said the decision imperils the future of thousands of students and scholars and serves as a warning to others The Harvard chapter of American Association of University Professors called the decision “the latest in a string of nakedly authoritarian moves against America’s oldest institution of higher education” 7,000 is the number of visa holders who would be affected by the order 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 Double whammy, drama at 36K ft RBI announces Buzz on B’desh head Yunus 2.69 lakh crore considering resignation bonanza to govt Reforms row s l a l i t h a @ New Delhi A Delhi-to-Srinagar IndiGo flight was forced to fly through a severe thunderstorm after being denied access to Pakistani airspace, according to an official statement released Friday by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The incident occurred on Wednesday when flight 6E 2142, an Airbus A321 Neo with 227 passengers, encountered a hailstorm and intense turbulence while cruising at 36,000 feet near Pathankot. The DGCA said the crew had initially requested a deviation from their planned route due to dangerous weather conditions but were denied clearance. According to the crew’s account, shared by the DGCA, they first contacted Indian Air Force’s Northern control requesting a leftward deviation toward the international border to avoid the storm, but the 50% tariff Threat by Trump on all EU imports from June 1 P9 Trump threatens Apple with 25% tariff if it doesn’t build iPhones in the US. “I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the US will be manufactured and built in the US, not India, or anyplace else” P10 State told to amend Motor Vehicles Rules for share autos damaged nose Our crew contacted Lahore to enter their airspace to avoid the weather but it was refused. Crew then chose to continue at same heading to exit the weather — DGCA statement on the Indigo scare request was denied. They then contacted Lahore Air Traffic Control for entry into Pakistani airspace, which was also refused. Caught in turbulent weather and with limited options, the pilots briefly considered turning back. However, with the thunderstorm already surrounding the aircraft, they decided to continue along the same heading, choosing the shortest path out of the storm toward Srinagar. While navigating through the thunderstorm, the aircraft was hit by hail and turbulence, triggering a series of warnings. The DGCA confirmed that the aircraft experienced multiple system alerts, including loss of Alternate Law protection, unreliable backup speed indicators, and “Angle of Attack fault” warnings. ‘What are you doing?’ SC poser on Kota suicides 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 Friday grilled the Rajasthan government over a surge in student suicides in Rajasthan’s Kota, calling the situation “serious”. A bench of justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan were told 14 suicide cases were reported from the city so far this year. “What are you doing as a state? Why are these children dying by suicide and only in Kota? Have you not given it a thought as a state?” Justice Pardiwala asked the counsel representing Rajasthan. The Supreme Court was hearing a matter of the death of a 22-year-old student from IIT, Kharagpur who was National task force on mental health The bench referred to a March 24 verdict of the top court which took note of recurring cases of student suicides and formed a national task force to address the mental health concerns found hanging in his hostel on May 4. It was also simultaneously dealing with another case of a girl, a NEET aspirant, who was found hanging in her room in Kota. In the IIT case, the bench lamabasted the defence over a delay in filing FIR after four days after the death of the student. In the Kota suicide case, the bench disapproved of non filing of an FIR. Rajasthan’s counsel said the investigation in the case was on and the SIT was aware of suicide cases in the state. “How many young students have died so far in Kota? You are in contempt of our judgement. Why have you not registered the FIR?” the bench asked Rajasthan’s counsel. The bench said the student was not residing in the accommodations provided by her institute, which she left in November 2024 and started living with her parents. The bench then summoned the police officer concerned in the Kota case on July 14 to explain the situation. Express News Service Decides to keep 7.5% of its balance sheet as a financial safeguard against unforeseen shocks DIPAK MONDAL @ New Delhi THE Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday announced a record `2.69 lakh crore as surplus to the Centre for 2024-25. The decision was taken by RBI’s Central Board of Directors on Friday at Mumbai under the chairmanship of governor Sanjay Malhotra. 2,68,590 Surplus The dividend will help Centransfer 2,10,874 tre tide over challenges posed by US tariffs and higher deFigures in Rupees fence spending in light of the crore conflict with Pakistan. 87,416 The latest payout is higher 99,122 than the `2.11 lakh crore that 57,128 RBI transferred to the Centre last year, but is lower than the the `3-3.5 lakh crore projected 30,307 by analysts. This is due to the 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 RBI board’s decision to increase the Contingent Risk The dividend will help Buffer (CRB)—a fund set aside Centre tide over challenges to deal with unexpected situaposed by US tariffs and tions—to 7.5% of RBI’s balance higher defence spending in sheet from 6.5% earlier. light of conflict with Pakistan This is a prudent move given the pressure on US Treasury yields could increase revaluation loss on forex reserves, said CRB was increased to 6% for Gaura Sen Gupta, chief econo- 2022-23 and to 6.5% for 2023-24. mist, IDFC First Bank. AccordUnion Budget estimated `2.6 ing to her, upward pressure on lakh crore as dividend from UST yields could persist due to RBI and PSBs in FY26 against US fiscal risk concerns. `2.3 lakh crore in FY25. A highRBI said the surplus for 2024- er-than-budgeted dividend 25 was based on the revised would help ease the fiscal presECF (economic capital frame- sure on the Centre at a time work) approved by the central when GDP growth in FY26 is board on May 15. likely to slow down a bit. During accounting years “This (`2.69 lakh crore divi2018-19 to 2021-22, owing to the dend) is also `40,000-50,000 prevailing macroeconomic con- crore higher than the amount ditions and the onslaught of that was likely assumed in the Covid-19, the RBI board had de- FY2026 Union Budget, implycided to maintain the CRB at ing an equivalent upside to 5.5% to support growth and non-tax revenues,” said Aditi overall economic activity The Nayar, chief economist, ICRA. . @ New Delhi Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus is considering resigning, citing mounting political deadlock and lack of consensus among key parties, according to a report by the BBC Bangla Service. Student-led National Citizen Party (NCP) chief Nahid Islam told the BBC that Yunus appeared deeply concerned about the worsening political climate. “He (Yunus) said he is thinking about it (resignation). He feels that the situation is such that he cannot work,” Islam said Thursday night after meeting the 84-year-old Nobel laureate. Islam said he met Yunus after rumours about his resignation spread throughout the day “Sir . said, ‘If I can’t work — I was brought here after a mass uprising to bring change and reMuhammad for m to the Yunus country. But in the current situation, with mounting pressure from movements and the way I’m being cornered, this isn’t how I can work,’” he quoted Yunus as saying. Another report citing unnamed sources close to the interim chief stated Yunus had voiced his intent to resign during a cabinet meeting on Thursday However, advisers persuad. ed him to remain in office. The resignation buzz comes amid growing friction with the military over election timelines and a controversial policy involving a humanitarian aid corridor into Myanmar’s conflict-ridden Rakhine state. Army Chief General Waker-UzZaman, recently pressed Yunus to hold elections by December. CM to meet PM today, press for TN demands E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Madurai The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the principal secretary of State Transport Department to make suitable amendments to the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, to cancel permits and seize and confiscate share autos that carry more passengers than permitted. Justice KK Ramakrishnan gave the direction, last week, while dismissing an appeal filed by a share auto driver, Chellapandian, challenging his conviction by the Paramakudi Sessions Court. The court had sentenced Chellapandian to two years imprisonment in 2019 for driving the vehicle in an inebriated state, which resulted in an accident that claimed three lives in Ramanathapuram district in 2015. The judge observed that every driver is a custodian of the passengers and has a duty to drive carefully. However, auto drivers are driving in a rash manner by carrying more passengers than permitted, disregarding traffic rules. The court, time and again, has directed gover nment authorities to check the menace but only a few cases are being registered and even that gives an alarming picture, the judge said, citing data furnished by the authorities regarding the number of cases registered against share autos for accidents, overloading, etc., in Tamil Nadu. The data revealed that between January 2008 and November 2024, 354 fatal accident cases and 2,290 non-fatal accident cases were registered against share autos in TN.  P5 The storm’s powerful updrafts and downdrafts also caused the autopilot to disengage, forcing the crew to fly the aircraft manually. During the peak of the turbulence, the plane’s descent rate spiked to 8,500 feet per minute — a dangerously steep drop — while warnings for exceeding maximum speed and possible stalls were repeatedly triggered. Despite the chaos, the flight crew carried out emergency checklist procedures (ECAM actions) and declared a “PAN PAN” emergency — indicating a situation that is urgent but not immediately life-threatening — to Srinagar air traffic control. They then requested radar guidance and successfully landed the aircraft with autothrust systems functioning normally. No passengers were injured. Pakistan’s airspace has remained closed to Indian flights after Operation Sindoor. Express News Service @ Chennai caught off guard Motorists wade through water in Villivakkam as heavy rain lashed parts of Chennai on Friday. The Regional Meteorological Centre has issued a severe weather warning for Tamil Nadu for the next two days | P Jawahar Chief Minister MK Stalin, who is in New Delhi to attend the Niti Aayog meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, will also be meeting him personally to submit a memorandum on Tamil Nadu’s various pressing demands, including allocation of funds for different schemes and expedition of pending schemes in sectors like railways, and others. Sources said, as per the tentative schedule, the CM is likely to meet the PM on the sidelines of the Niti Aayog meeting, which will be held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi from 9.30 am till evening. Last year, on July 23, Stalin had said that he was planning to attend the Niti Aayog meeting, but later felt it befitting to boycott the meeting since the union government, according to him, had boycotted TN in the 2024-25 union budget. However, as the theme for current Niti Aayog meeting is ‘Vikshit Rajya for Viksit Bharat at 2047’, which calls for states to craft bold, long-term, and inclusive vision documents aligned with national priorities, the CM is likely to highlight how TN is already on this path, aiming to become a $1 trillion economy by 2030. The CM may also highlight how the delay in disbursal of funds for various schemes, including centrally-sponsored schemes, has been affecting the state.  P5 CM MK Stalin visited Dr A Parameswaran, who was injured in the Pahalgam terror attack, at the AIIMS in New Delhi, and inquired about his treatment | Express kani-led delegation meets officials in Moscow Chennai: One of seven all-party delegations headed by MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi met the higher officials of Russia in Moscow on Friday. The union government formed seven delegations to travel to key nations to stress India’s ‘strong message of zero-tolerance against terrorism’ | P2 laptop scheme express read TN floats tender to procure 10 lakh laptops for students Express News Service @ Chennai In its effort to swiftly roll out the distribution of free laptops to eligible college students promised in the 2025-26 budget, the Tamil Nadu government has floated tenders inviting bids for the procurement of 10 lakh laptops through international competitive bidding. The tender documents showed that the government intends to provide college students with laptops of fairly high specifications, including 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Solid State Drive, Integrated Graphics supporting 128 MB VRAM or higher, display of 14 or 15.6 inch and any processor equivalent to or above Intel i3 or AMD Ryzen3 with minimum of four cores, eight threads and hyperthreading feature, and launched between January 2022 and June 2024. Finance Minister Thangam Representative image Thennarasu had said that the government aimed to distribute 20 lakh laptop over a twoyear period with an allocation of `2,000 crore for 2025-26. While the government had earlier announced that the college students would be able to choose whether they wanted a laptop or tablet, the tender documents indicate that the government is planning to distribute only laptops at the moment. Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu, coming under the Department of Information Technology, which has floated the tender, said any in- terested bidder should be able to supply a minimum of one lakh laptop along with laptop bags. Sources said multiple vendors could be chosen to supply the 10 lakh laptops in a short period of time. With the 2026 Assembly polls less than a year away the , government intends to roll out the distribution at the earliest. Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin chaired a meeting in this regard on Monday  . P5 IAS officer gets 1-month jail for contempt of court Chennai: The Madras High Court has sentenced IAS officer Anshul Mishra to one-month simple imprisonment for contempt of court. HC also ordered him to pay a compensation of `25,000 | P2 6 police teams to probe Kovai youth’s ‘murder’ Coimbatore: Coimbatore police have formed six teams to probe the disappearance of a youth with ADHD, suspected to have been killed at a home for persons with intellectual disabilities | P2