chennai l Monday l July 21, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION UIDAI to start biometric update of kids via schools The UIDAI said it is working on a project to start biometric updates of children through schools in a phased manner Project depends on consent of parents will help students avail many benefits According to UIDAI, over 7 crore children have not updated their biometrics for Aadhaar, which is mandatory after attaining the age of 5 years. “The project will be done only after parental consent. We are at present testing the technology and it should be ready in 45-60 days,” PTI quoted UIDAI CEO Bhuvnesh Kumar as saying ■ ■ Updating biometrics will ensure seamless usage of Aadhaar in availing services such as school admissions, registering for examinations, availing benefits of scholarships, DBT schemes, etc Under the project, the UIDAI will send biometric machines to each district which will be rotated from school to school AADHAAR Can be deactivated if biometrics UPDATE IS NOT DONE BY AGE 7 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 Bihar poll roll revision, Op Sindoor top House agenda In all-party meet, govt agrees to discuss all issues raised by Oppn 100 MPs sign petition calling for Varma’s impeachment R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi From left: Minister of state Arjun Ram Meghwal, Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju and J P Nadda and MoS L Murugan chair the all-party meet in New Delhi on Sunday | PTI R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi AMID persistent demand by the Opposition for debates on multiple pressing issues in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament, the BJP-led government on Sunday signalled its willingness to engage in discussions—particularly on the success of Operation Sindoor— provided all opposition party leaders adhere to Parliamentary traditions. The government dropped the hint during an all-party meeting, chaired by Union Minister J P Nadda, a day before the start of the Monsoon session. As many as 54 leaders of different parties and independent MPs attended the meet on Sunday . The Opposition demanded a statement from the PM on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls currently underway in poll-bound Bihar. There was also a strong call from the Opposition for a clarification from the government on the alleged US mediation during Operation Sindoor resulting in a ceasefire. According to sources, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju affirmed that the govern- in kulithalai Man hits wife at home, kills her in hospital ex p ress ne w s service @ Karur In a hor rific incident, a 28-year-old man stabbed his wife to death early on Sunday while she was undergoing treatment at a Kulithalai government district headquarters hospital in Karur for injuries sustained during his assault on her at their home following an altercation. Police have re gistered a case and are searching for the man. According to Kulithalai police, around 5 am on Sunday, R Vishruth (28), a driver from Pattavarthi, went to the hospital and asked the security personnel to allow him to meet his wife, V Shruthi (27), who was being treated in the female general ward on the first floor. Police said he had concealed a knife and no one suspected him. He entered the ward, approached her bed and allegedly stabbed Shruthi in the neck three times while she was asleep. Before hospital staff and attendants of other patients could stop him, he had fled the scene. Despite doctors’ efforts, Shruthi died on the spot, police added. Shruthi, who hailed from Andhra Pradesh, had been working as a teacher at a private school in Musiri, police said. The couple got married seven years ago while they were in Chennai and have two sons.  P5 ment would respond appropriately when discussions take place on US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire assertions concerning the India-Pakistan conflict. Rijiju told reporters after the meeting: “There should be government-opposition coordination in running Parliament smoothly; not confrontation. The government is open to discussions within rules, conventions.” Many Opposition leaders also demanded a debate on the intelligence failure behind the Pahalgam attack. On these demands, Rijiju said the matters raised at the meeting would be taken up at the Business Advisory Committee of both houses, where a final decision would be taken. After the meeting, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi told reporters that his party sought Prime Minister Modi’s statement on Trump’s claims, “lapses” which led to the Pahalgam attack and SIR in Bihar. “We hope that the PM will fulfil his moral duty he said. ,” CPI(M)’s John Brittas and Supriya Sule of NCP-Sharad Pawar demanded that the PM respond on Pahalgam attack and Bihar’s SIR. P10 taking appears to be no further doubt regarding the move to impeach Justice Yashwant Varma. The Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday said over 100 MPs have already signed a notice to bring a motion in Parliament for the removal of Justice Yashwant Varma, crossing the threshold of support required for tabling the impeachment exercise in the Lok Sabha. “The signature (exercise) is underway and it has crossed 100 already Rijiju told report,” ers after the all-party meeting, while adding that it is for the Business Advisory Committee, a group of parties which finalises the agenda in their respective House, to decide when the motion will be moved. A motion for the removal of a judge has to be signed by not less than 100 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 50 in the Rajya Sabha. The motion is likely to be brought in the Lower House. With Parliament’s Monsoon Session beginning from Monday, the government has made it clear that it will bring the motion during this sitting of Parliament and has been receiving support from all parties. Varma, who has been kept off judicial work, has protested his innocence and has moved the Supreme Court against the in-house committee’s findings. SIT to probe Dharmasthala mass grave allegations V I N C E N T D ’ S O U Z A @ Mangaluru THE Karnakata government has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct a comprehensive and impartial probe into a series of alleged crimes, including murders, sexual assaults, and disappearances of women and girls spanning over two decades in the Dharmasthala region of Dakshina Kannada district. The state government’s decision comes on the heels of a chilling testimony by a former sanitation worker employed by the Dharmasthala temple administration, who told the police he was forced to burn and bury the bodies of hundreds of women, including schoolgirls, between 1998 and 2014. He claimed the victims were raped and murdered before being disposed of in secret. The SIT will be led by Pranav Mohanty, DGP, Internal Security Division. The team includes IPS officers M N Anucheth, Soumya Latha, and Jitendra Kumar Dayama. The SIT will operate out of the Dakshina Kannada Superintendent of Police’s office and will have Decision after women’s panel push In a post on X, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the decision to set up an SIT follows a request from the Karnataka State Commission for Women, which has taken a serious note of the allegations and demanded an unbiased investigation. The Commission cited both the media reports and the court statement of the sanitation worker as deeply concerning and indicative of possible systemic criminal activity B A N B U S E LV A N @ Chennai A ration card of a family comprising three to four members receives an average monthly subsidy of `300 from the Tamil Nadu government through the Public Distribution System (PDS). This amount includes a subsidy of `120-`200 for cooking oil and `80 for tur dal, according to the bills being issued at fair price shops from June 2025 after the integration of Point of Sale (PoS) machines. This is a significant jump from the initial subsidy of `20 each given for oil and dal when the scheme was introduced in 2007. The initiative to provide detailed bills is a notable step towards transparency, with the government publicly revealing both the actual cost and subsidy provided for each commodity distributed M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi Cloudburst aftermath at Thunag of Seraj valley, in Mandi on Wednesday | ANI floods, 22 cloudbursts, and 19 landslides. Estimates put the financial loss to the state at over `1,200 crore. According to the State Emergency Operation Centre, 146 roads are blocked, 28 power transformers out of monthly PDS subsidy given by the TN government for a four-member NPHH ration card Commodity Cooking oil Tur dal Sugar Rice Wheat** Total Actual price (`) 143.91 109.15 37.81 8.3 27.74 — Quantity Total bill (kg, L) (`) 1 143.91 1 109.15 2 75.62 10 83 3 83.22 — 494.9 ** Wheat is not supplied regularly in PDS shops. through PDS for the first time. The average cost per kg is `8.30 for rice, `37.81 for sugar, and `27.74 for wheat. While rice and wheat are supplied for free, sugar is supplied at `25 per kg. A c c o rd i n g t o o f f i c i a l records, TN has 2.15 crore ration cards. Of these, 95-96% of cardholders purchase oil and dal each month, while 90% buy sugar and 80-85% purchase rice regularly. A service, and 58 water supply schemes affected. The central team will comprise experts from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) Roor- kee, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) Pune, a Geologist, and the Indian Institute of Technolo g y (IIT) Indore. “The home minister’s direction came following a recent meeting in which he was apprised that Himachal Pradesh has witnessed an increase in the frequency and intensity of cloudbursts, flash floods, landslides and torrential rainfall, causing widespread loss of life, damage to infrastructure, livelihoods and environmental degradation,” a senior official of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs said. The Centre has already deputed an inter-ministerial team for on-the-spot, first-hand assessment of the damages in the state. The team is currently visiting the affected areas. PDS bill (`) 25 30 50 0 0 105 Subsidy amount (`) 118.91 79.15 25.62 83 83.22 389.9 Based on a bill from a family in Ambattur, Chennai four-member family with a Non Priority Household (NPHH) card at Ambattur that purchased 10kg of rice, 3kg of wheat, 2kg of sugar, 1 litre of oil, and 1kg of tur dal received a total monthly subsidy of `390, revealed their bill. Similarly, a three-member household holding an NPHH card at Villivakkam received a subsidy of `300 per month for purchasing oil, dal, sugar and rice.  P5 express read 3 dead, 7 hurt in pile-up near Gurubarapalli Krishnagiri: Three persons, including a minor boy, died and seven were hurt in a multi-vehicle collision near Gurubarapalli on Sunday evening. The bodies of the deceased and the injured were taken to the Krishnagiri GH | P4 Odisha teen critical, airlifted to AIIMS Delhi Bhubaneswar: The 15-year-old girl who was set afire by miscreants in Odisha’s Puri district was airlifted to AIIMS Delhi on Sunday. Her condition remains critical and she is on oxygen support, a medical bulletin said | P5 INSI D E vijay brought in to split votes, won’t succeed: Sivasankar Full interview: p4 manchester test Injury dampener for India; Reddy, Akash Deep latest concerns TNIE in England Firoz Mirza @manchester It has been drizzling even on Sunday. Though sporadic, it rained too. The pitch in the middle of Old Trafford cricket ground is covered and is expected to be damp. The India team that reached here by train on Saturday evening had a closed-door practice session but indoors. It was gloomy and overcast, ideal conditions for pacers. However, for India, inside the dressing room it is less than ideal even after a fun-time spent at Manchester United’s training centre at Carrington. If the suspense over Jasprit Bumrah’s appearance in the fourth Test was not enough, India suffered a huge blow as Nitich Reddy is likely to be ruled out of the remaining two Tests on Sunday This is after Akash . Deep’s availability came under scanner due to injury Though . the nature of Reddy’s ailment is not known, Akash Deep ap- tigation across other police stations in Karnataka. The SIT is required to provide regular updates to the Director General and Inspector General of Police, and submit a detailed investigation report to the government at the earliest. Calls for an SIT had been growing from multiple quarters, including the sanitation worker himself. Former Supreme Court Judge V Gopala Gowda also had urged the government to arrest those responsible without delay and ensure a transparent investigation through the SIT. Welcoming the SIT probe, Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala spokesperson K Parshwanath Jain said it bring facts to light and end speculations. PDS subsidy for 4-member family in TN at a high `300 Expert panel to assess recurring natural disasters TAKING note of the frequent, high-intensity natural disasters in Himachal Pradesh, the Centre will form a team of experts from various disciplines to assess the situation in the hill state and suggest measures to deal with cloudbursts, flash floods, landslides, and torrential rainfall. Confirming the development, officials said on Sunday that Union Home Minister Amit Shah has directed the formation of a multi-sectoral central team to visit Himachal Pradesh, which witnessed nearly 120 deaths and widespread damage to infrastructure, houses, and crops in the ongoing monsoon season. In the past month alone, the state has witnessed 33 flash access to all district resources. It has also been granted authority to bring in additional personnel and officers as needed. The team is tasked with investigating the FIR registered at Dharmasthala Police Station, but also any related cases of unnatural deaths, sexual assault, murders and disappearances reported or discovered during the course of the inves- Ravinder Jadeja, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah and Shubman Gill at the Man United training centre | BCCI X parently has groin issue. With the fast bowling all-rounder seems unlikely to take the field, India would be worried right now. He lent stability to the lower order and also chipped in with wickets. Reddy claimed three wickets (all at Lord’s) in the two Tests he has played. Arshdeep Singh, another pacer, has already sustained a cut in his bowling hand in Beckenham a few days ago and is unlikely to make his debut here. They do have Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna yet the team management has flown in Haryana speedster Anshul Kamboj as a cover. Calling up a back-up bowler in the middle of a series usually don’t paint a very rosy picture. What makes it more intriguing is Manchester weather. The Met Department issued yellow warning for Sunday and Monday for heavy and perhaps thundery spells. There is forecast of light rain throughout the match as well. With the surface expected to be damp, India would be in a huddle to find their best possible combination before Wednesday  . P11 Jagan may be questioned by s.i.t. on liquor scam Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is likely to be summoned for questioning in connection with the alleged multi-crore liquor scam during his regime, to trace the money trail | P5 Minor among 5 killed after SUV overturns due to burst tyre ex p ress ne w s service @ Villupuram A 14-year-old boy and four others were killed, while five more, including a one-year-old, were seriously injured, after the SUV they were travelling in overturned into a roadside ditch due to a burst tyre near Athipakkam village at Tirukoilur taluk in Kallakurichi district early on Sunday . According to Manalurpettai police, the group of 10 from Devanur Cross Road near Arakandanallur, was on a pilgrimage to Arunachaleswarer Temple in Tiruvannamalai. The trip was planned by an armed reserve police constable M Madhavan (44) and his wife Menaka (22), a schoolteacher from Poomari village. Menaka’s mother R Dhanalakshmi (70), sister-in-law S Sangeetha (36) and her one-year-old niece Koushika Sri, also came along, police said. The family was joined by their neighbours Shanthi (61) — along with her grandsons Raghavendran (14) and Mohan (13) — Subha (55), and Menaka’s colleague Saritha (23), police said. The four-wheeler’s front tyre burst near Athipakkam, and the vehicle toppled into a roadside ditch, killing Dhanalakshmi, Sangeetha, Raghavendran and Subha on the spot.  P5 The group of 10 was on a pilgrimage to the Arunachaleswarer Temple in Tiruvannamalai | Express