villupuram l sunday l july 06, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l city EDITION On the eve of his 90th birthday, Dalai Lama says he’s not done yet The Dalai Lama on Saturday put to rest rumours surrounding the announcement of his successor, saying he hopes to live for another 30-40 years 15,000 Rijiju to attend birthday celebrations Speaking at a prayer ceremony ahead of his 90th birth anniversary on Sunday at the main Dalai Lama temple in McLeodganj, Tenzin Gyatso said that he has “clear signs and indications” that the blessings of the Avalokiteshvara are with him. The Dalai Lama’s birth anniversary celebrations on Sunday will be attended by cabinet minister Kiren Rijiju | P10 The Dalai Lama at a prayer ceremony in McLeodganj on Saturday | PTI people expected to join the birthday celebrations on sunday 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 ADR knocks SC’s door over Twenty years on, Bihar spl poll roll revision Thackeray cousins Calls ECI order impractical, flags possible disenfranchising of lakhs Fight goes to top court S U CHITRA K ALYA N M OHA N T Y @ New Delhi WITH THIS ISSUE Desi Cool The Age of Authenticity and Cultural Nationalism is here PLUS 12 P AGES Amid mounting concerns, the Association For Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Saturday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar. It claimed that the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s exercise was violative of Articles 14, 19, 21, 325, 326 of the Constitution, provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. “The SIR order, if not set aside, can arbitrarily and without due process disenfranchise lakhs of voters from electing their representatives, thereby disrupting free and fair elections and democracy in the country the petition said. ,” It pointed out that the documentation requirements, lack of due process as well as the unreasonably short timeline for the electoral roll revision would result in removal of names of lakhs of genuine voters from the poll rolls. The petition charged that the Spl Summary Revision already over between Oct 29, 2024 and Jan 6, 2025. Why fresh iteration with new parameters? 1 Exclusion of Aadhaar or ration cards as id proof makes the poor vulnerable to exclusion from poll roll, says ADR 2 The petition claims that the ECI shifted the onus of being on the voters’ list from the state to the citizens ECI shifted the onus of being on the voters’ list from the state to citizens. It excluded identification documents such as Aadhaar or ration cards, which makes marginalised communities and the poor more vulnerable to exclusion from voting. “The Declaration as required under the SIR process is violative of Article 326 in so far as it requires a voter to provide documents to prove his/her citizenship and also citizenships of his/her mother or father, failing which his/her name would not be added to the draft electoral roll and can be deleted from the same,” the ADR said. It termed the ECI’s order as unreasonable and the timeline 3 Over 3 crore people could be excluded from voting due to the the requirements as mentioned in the SIR order 4 Petition says ECI fiat lacks recorded reasons supported by evidence or transparent methodology impractical to conduct SIR in Bihar where elections are due in November 2025. There are many who may be able to procure the documents but the short timeline mentioned in directive may preclude them from being able to supply the same within the time period, the ADR said. “Bihar is a state with high poverty and migration rates where many lack access to documents like birth certificates or parental records. As per estimates over 3 crore voters and more particularly from marginalised communities could be excluded from voting due to the stringent requirements as mentioned in the SIR order.” On Neeraj’s big night, Chopra wins S w a r o o p S w a m i n at h a n @ Bengaluru IN sport, there are no satisfaction guarantees. This truism, though, has had several exceptions. From an Indian context, the one modern athlete who has come closest to shattering this maxim has been Neeraj Chopra. The 27-year-old guarantees wins or podium places. Since June 2021, 24 meets ago, he has only known two sporting pincodes. First or second. Whatever the magnitude of the competition — Olympic Games, World Championships, top-tier invitations or low-key season openers — the Indian has risen to the occasion. Shortly after 7.30 pm on a cool but windy evening at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, Chopra, already a two-time Olympic medallist, added another line to an already glittering CV As soon as . Sahil Silwal hurtled down the runway to mark the beginning of the NC Classic, the javelin ace entered into the history books for the sheer scale and ambition of conceptualising, ideating and organising a world-class athletics event in India. And Chopra’s role in this shouldn’t be understated — Saturday ushered in the birth of Chopra the administrator. It was all about putting in place the building blocks towards securing a legacy off the field. Moving forward, the NC Classic could see multiple disciplines. At least that’s what he hopes. With chief minister Siddaramaiah and 1000s of others in attendance, the competition belatedly caught fire when the familiar frame of Chopra stood at the top of the runway for his third throw of the night. Batting a bit of a crosswind, he cut across seven of the eight lanes and past the timer before launching the spear into the Bengaluru night sky . A few seconds later, ‘86.18m’ had flashed on the screen. After two below par throws, the titular character had finally grazed the occasion. His occasion. It stayed that way for the rest of the night. ‘A satisfaction guarantee’. bury the hatchet Nirav Modi’s brother held in US on charges of laundering s u d h i r s u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai M U K E SH RA N J A N @ New Delhi SHIV Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said he and his cousin, MNS chief Raj Thackeray, have joined forces in the interest of ‘Marathi pride’ while sharing a political stage with him after nearly 20 years. Uddhav sounded bullish when he said he and Raj will capture power in the Mumbai civic body elections and Maharashtra together. “We have come together to stay together,” he asserted. At the public rally titled ‘ waj Marathicha’ to celebrate A the rollback of two government resolutions on introducing Hindi as a third language from Class 1 in state schools, Uddhav said, “We won’t let the government impose Hindi on us.” MNS leader Amit Thackeray, Raj’s son, was seen sharing a hug with Uddhav’s son Aaditya on the stage. Uddhav alleged that the people who are in power in Maharashtra, are “slaves of two Gujaratis. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde are in power, not to serve the interest of Maharashtra and Marathi manoos, but of their bosses in Delhi. We will never tolerate Hindi in Maharashtra. We will fight to safeguard our culture and language.” On the rollback of the threelanguage formula in Maharashtra, both brothers said the BJP-led government had no other option. “The government US authorities have arrested fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi’s younger brother, Nehal Modi, following extradition requests from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), officials said on Saturday . Nehal, who is the subject of a Red Notice issued by the Interpol, was taken into custody on Friday US officials told In, dian authorities. The next hearing in the matter is scheduled for July 17, during which Nehal Modi, a Belgian national, may seek bail — a move expected to be contested by U S p ro s e c u tors, officials Nehal Modi said. The arrest stems from a joint extradition plea submitted by the ED and the CBI. The proceedings, led by US federal prosecutors, are based on two charges — one count of money laundering and one count of criminal conspiracy under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (disappearance of evidence) of IPC. Nehal (46) is an accused in the `13,000 crore Punjab National Bank fraud. He was arrested a day after he walked out of a US prison after serving a nearly three-year sentence in a cheating case following India’s request. 86.18 Neeraj Chopra won NC classic with a 86.18m throw Two-time Olympic medallist & World No 1 javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra lets out a roar at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru on Saturday | vinod kumar T Amid increasing demand for affordable infertility treatment, only one government facility — the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Government Hospital for Women and Children at Egmore in Chennai — offers the high-cost In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment in Tamil Nadu, compared to 697 private institutions offering the service across districts. The prohibitive cost of the treatment in private facilities, which runs into lakhs, makes it unaffordable for thousands of patients. The spatial distribution of these private institutions, too, is skewed in favour of larger cities, making it difficult for people from smaller towns and Stalin: TN’s ‘language war’ has crossed borders TN arts, science grads buck trend, hit pay dirt Police dept clarifies on deploying woman cops Chennai/Madurai: TN police on Saturday issued a clarification stating that the ADGP’s recent directive on avoiding putting woman cops on bandobast duties — which was widely criticised — was meant to ensure priority of cases involving crimes against women and children | P4 Congress takes a dig, says ‘joint effort’ After Uddhav and Raj Thackeray hosted a joint rally claiming credit for the government’s climbdown on the “imposition” of Hindi, the Congress reminded them that the move was opposed by various parties rolled back the decision on the three-language formula due to the strong unity shown by Marathi people. This decision was a precursor to the plan of separating Mumbai from Maharashtra,” the MNS chief said, with Uddhav seated next. Raj, in a lighter vein, credited Fadnavis with bringing him and Uddhav together, a feat even Balasaheb Thackeray could not accomplish. “Your power is in the legislature, ours on the streets,” Raj said to thunderous applause. S a r a v a n a n M P @ Madurai placement bonanza Loyola College, one of Tamil Nadu’s premier arts colleges, Students pursuing science has managed to place 945 of and arts courses in colleges in 1,048 students who had opted Tamil Nadu seem to have for campus placements this bucked the global trend of a year. Two MSc (chemistry) lacklustre job market with students from the college record placements and have bagged job offers impressive pay packfrom a pharmaceutical Sunday company, ACG World, ages this year. The gambit to invite Special for its Croatia location companies from across with a package of `15 sectors for the placelakh per annum, while ment sessions without rean MSc (zoology) student lying solely on software firms has received `12 lakh per anhas paid rich dividends to col- num offer from an educational leges as the average pay pack- organisation based in the age offered doubled in most UAE. Similarly, some BSc and colleges and more than 90% of MSc (physics) students have students got placed. been absorbed by the space B i n i ta J a i s w a l @ Chennai MNS chief Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray | PTI Amid falling fertility rate, state has just one govt-run IVF centre express read Chennai: Referring to Uddhav Thackeray’s rally in Mumbai, CM M K Stalin said, in a post on X on Saturday, that the language war waged by the DMK and people of TN against Hindi imposition has transcended state boundaries and sparked stirs in Maharashtra | P4 PNB fraud case startup, Angikul Cosmos, while IT companies have hired maths graduates and postgraduates. “This trend should be an eye-opener for students and parents who are unable to think beyond computer science and AI-related courses. For any research work, there is a need for manpower with strong knowledge in core subjects like maths, physics, and chemistry,” said S Princely Samuel, director, placement cell, Loyola College. He added that pharmaceutical and life sciences, and food companies offered better pay package compared to IT companies. “This year, the average annual salary package has increased to `7-`8 lakh against last year’s `3-`4 lakh,” Samuel said.  P7 press clusive Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Government Hospital for Women and Children, Egmore | Express villages to access them. A recent UN report revealed that India’s fertility rate has declined to 1.9 births per woman, well below the replacement rate of 2.1. (Replacement rate refers to the fertility rate needed for a population to maintain its current size). Access to in- fertility treatment plays a crucial role in addressing the issue of falling fertility rate. According to an RTI reply as , on April 21, 2025, there are 697 private IVF centres across TN — 175 in Chennai, 69 (Coimbatore), 41 (Madurai), 40 (Salem), 32 (Trichy), 30 (Dindigul), 28 (Erode), 23 (Kanniyakumari), 16 (Virudhunagar), 14 (Dharmapuri and others). “The total cost of treatment at these centres starts at `3 lakh, and this is applicable just for one cycle (first sitting). For a healthy couple (healthy sperm and egg), the treatment would cost `2 lakh, and medicines `1 lakh. In case of any abnormalities, the treatment cost would shoot up to `3 lakh and `2 lakh for medicines,” said a gynaecologist from a private hospital in Madurai.  P7 NDA bloc’s CM candidate will be from AIADMK: EPS E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Chennai Reacting for the first time to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement that NDA alliance will form the government in TN after the 2026 polls, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) on Saturday said that since Shah has said that the CM candidate will be from AIADMK, it is not right for anyone (in the BJP) to make contradictory statements. Re s p o n d i n g t o a question on whether the AIADMK would extend an invitation to actor Vijay’s TVK to form an alliance, EPS said, “We are open to aligning with all parties that seek to oust the anti-people DMK regime. We would be happy to ally with anyone who shares this objective. They too must cooperate for the larger cause.” Meanwhile, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has ordered Z-plus category security for EPS. Recently, EPS had received three bomb threat calls at his residences in Salem and Chennai, which were later confirmed to be hoax calls.  full report: P4