India women to take on Sri Lanka in Wc opener The Harmanpreet Kaur-led Women in Blue will be playing their opening ODI World Cup match against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru on September 30. With the ongoing agreement between India and Pakistan cricket boards, the latter will not travel to India and will be camped in Colombo. India and Pakistan are scheduled to play each other in Colombo on October 5. It will be the first match between the two countries after the recent cross-border tensions | P11 vijayawada l tuesday l june 17, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Census-2027 notification finally out M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi Rescue team work at the site where a missile launched from Iran struck Tel Aviv, Israel, on Monday | AP/PTI India to shift its citizens from Iran to safer areas Students to be evacuated via Armenia, UAE Israel, Iran RAMP UP ATTACKS civilian CASUALTIES RISE J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi AS hostilities between Iran and Israel intensify, India has begun relocating its nationals from high-risk zones in Iran and is mulling on evacuation plans via both land and sea routes through Armenia and the United Arab Emirates, sources said. The first batch of 110 students has reached the Armenian border, from there they will be evacuated by air. The external affairs ministry on Monday said Indian nationals, including 1,500 students— from Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, and other states— are being moved to safer areas Israeli Missiles hit Iran’s state tv hq Israel on Monday struck Iran’s state TV while a live broadcast was underway, forcing the anchor to rush out as debris started falling in the studio within Iran. Embassy officials are in constant touch with local leaders and the Indian community An estimated 10,000 Indian . nationals are in Iran. Tehran, where a majority of Indian students are enrolled in institutions such as Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Iran University of Medical Sciences, has seen heightened risk amid Israeli strikes. Sourc- es said land evacuation via Armenia and a sea route through the UAE are being explored as viable options. “It’s an evolving situation and we are exploring every ways and means to ensure the safety of our nationals as we have done in the past,” said a source. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has spoken to his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss the situation. Tehran said despite the closure of Iranian airspace, “all land borders are open for crossing” and has requested India to share details of those intending to leave. The Centre on Monday formally notified the much-delayed National Population Census 2027, which was due way back in 2021, but had to be put off after the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. The Gazette notification said, “the Central Government hereby declares that a census of the population of India shall be taken during the year 2027.” The notification added that the reference date for the Census shall be 00.00 hours of the 1st day of March, 2027, except for Ladakh and snow-bound Caste enumeration definitely on, says govt The Union home ministry rubbished Congress apprehensions on caste enumeration as the notification did not mention it. “The census will include caste enumeration... It has already been mentioned in press releases dated 30 April, 4 June and 15 June, that the census will also have caste enumeration,” the govt said non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.” As for the rest, the reference date shall be 00:00 hours of October 1, 2026. The notification was issued by Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, Registrar General and Census Commissioner. The census exercise will be held in two phases — House Listing Operation (HLO) and Population Enumeration (PE). While HLO will involve collecting data on assets and amenities in each household, the PE exercise will capture the demographic, socio-economic, cultural and other details of every person in each household. Also, caste enumeration will @ Ahmedabad Hoax bomb call triggers tension at SHAR Centre The process to identify victims of the June 12 AI-171 air crash picked up pace on Monday as officials said DNA samples of 119 of them have been successfully matched. At least 270 people perished in the aircrash. Ahmedabad Civil Hospital Superintendent Dr Rakesh Joshi said 64 bodies have already been handed over to the respective families. Another 24 families are expected to collect the mortal remains of their loved ones in the coming days, while 11 families await confirmation of DNA matches with relatives. Authorities expect the identification to conclude swiftly once pending reports are in. A bomb threat triggered a high alert at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-SHAR) in Sriharikota on Sunday night. The Tamil Nadu Command Control Centre reportedly received an anonymous call alleging the presence of terrorists on the SHAR campus. Following the threat, security forces were swiftly mobilised. From the early hours of Monday, intensive searches were conducted across the SHAR premises. Teams from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and local police combed the area thoroughly. Coastal security forces also carried out searches along nearby Officials hand over 64 bodies D i l i p S i n g h K s hat r i ya E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i ce @ Nellore, sea routes. After several hours of inspections, authorities concluded that the bomb threat was a hoax and attributed the call to mischief-makers. Security has been strengthened at SHAR’s first and second gates, with increased vigilance in surrounding villages. Mobile patrols have intensified surveillance along coastal areas to help avoid any potential security breaches. It may be noted here that SHAR received a similar threat call on May 9 this year. SHAR has been a critical hub for the ISRO, recently marking its 100th launch with the successful deployment of the NVS-02 satellite using the GSLV-F15 rocket on January 29, 2025. be done for the first time after Independence as part of the Census, which is in its eighth edition. Overall, this is the 16th edition of the Census since its beginning in 1881. As many as 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors and around 1.3 lakh census functionaries will conduct the operation with cutting-edge mobile digital gadgets, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Sunday after chairing a high-level meeting to review the preparations for the Census exercise. Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Mritunjay Kumar Narayan and other senior officials participated. FATF condemns Pahalgam attack J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi AS India intensifies its diplomatic push to put Pakistan on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, the global anti-terror financing watchdog has issued a rare, strongly worded condemnation of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, flagging the financial lifelines that sustain such violence. “The FATF expresses grave concern and condemns the brutal terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir, India, on 22 April 2025,” it said, noting the brutality of the incident in which 26 tourists were killed. Victims were executed after being forced to reveal their religion—an act FATF described as a targeted and horrifying assault on civilians.